Acute Alcohol Intake Impairs the Velocity Storage Mechanism and Affects Both High-Frequency Vestibular-Ocular Reflex and Postural Control

Hyo Geun Choi, Sung Kwang Hong, Su Kyoung Park, Hyo-Jeong Lee and Jiwon Chang
Additional contact information
Hyo Geun Choi: Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon 24252, Korea
Sung Kwang Hong: Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon 24252, Korea
Su Kyoung Park: Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon 24252, Korea
Hyo-Jeong Lee: Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon 24252, Korea
Jiwon Chang: Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon 24252, Korea

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 7, 1-8

Abstract: Background: Acute alcohol intake is known to cause gait instability, dizziness, and lack of psychomotor coordination. Previous studies demonstrated the positive effects of alcohol on the oculomotor system and the low-frequency vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). However, the low-frequency VORs is a rather un-physiologic stimulation, and the reported explanations regarding the relations between the alcohol-induced VOR changes and posture control are inconsistent. OBJECTIVE: The present study evaluates how acute alcohol intake affects more physiologic mid- to high-frequency VORs, postural control, and elucidates the connection between the VOR and posture control after alcohol intake. Methods: A total of 31 healthy volunteers participated. Each participant received calculated amounts of alcohol drinks according to their body weight and genders with the targeted blood alcohol content (BAC) level of 0.05% using the Widmark formula. A vestibular test battery composed of posturography, video head impulse test, rotatory chair test (slow harmonic acceleration (SHA) and step velocity), and subjective visual vertical/horizontal tests (SVV/SVH) were conducted twice in alcohol-free condition (no alcohol intake within 24 h) and acute alcohol condition. Results: Acute alcohol intake decreased stability scores in all NS/EO (normal stability-eyes open), NS/EC (normal stability- eyes closed), PS/EO (perturbed stability-eyes open), and PS/EC (perturbed stability-eyes closed) conditions. High-frequency VOR gains decreased, but mid-frequency VOR gains were not significantly affected by alcohol intake. In addition, time constants were reduced significantly after alcohol ingestion in both clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation. Phase lead in SHA test and SVV/SVH was not affected by alcohol intake. Conclusion: Acute alcohol intake affected postural stability, high-acceleration head impulses, and the velocity storage mechanism.

Keywords: alcohol; velocity storage mechanism; vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR); postural balance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/7/3911/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/7/3911/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:7:p:3911-:d:779392

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().