What do we know about the neurogenic potential of different stem cell types?

Cell therapies, based on transplantation of immature cells, are being considered as a promising tool in the treatment of neurological disorders. Many efforts are being concentrated on the development of safe and effective stem cell lines. Nevertheless, the neurogenic potential of some cell lines, i.e., the ability to generate mature neurons either in vitro or in vivo, is largely unknown. Recent evidence indicate that this potential might be distinct among different cell lines, therefore limiting their broad use as replacement cells in the central nervous system. Here, we have reviewed the latest advancements regarding the electrophysiological maturation of stem cells, focusing our attention on fetal-derived-, embryonic-, and induced pluripotent stem cells. In summary, a large body of evidence supports the biological safety, high neurogenic potential, and in some diseases probable clinical efficiency related to fetal-derived cells. By contrast, reliable data regarding embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells are still missing.     

What are the roles of the many different types of potassium channel expressed in cerebellar granule cells?

Potassium (K) channels have a key role in the regulation of neuronal excitability. Over a hundred different subunits encoding distinct K channel subtypes have been identified so far. A major challenge is to relate these many different channel subunits to the functional K currents observed in native neurons. In this review, we have concentrated on cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs). We have considered each of the three principal super families of K channels in turn, namely, the six transmembrane domain, voltage-gated super family, the two transmembrane domain, inward-rectifier super family and the four transmembrane domain, leak channel super family. For each super family, we have identified the subunits that are expressed in CGNs and related the properties of these expressed channel subunits to the functional currents seen in electrophysiological recordings from these neurons. In some cases, there are strong molecular candidates for proteins underlying observed currents. In other cases the correlation is less clear. We show that at least 26 potassium channel alpha subunits are moderately or strongly expressed in CGNs. Nevertheless, a good empirical model of CGN function has been obtained with just six distinct K conductances. The transient KA current in CGNs, seems due to expression of Kv4.2 channels or Kv4.2/4.3 heteromers, while the KCa current is due to expression of large-conductance slo channels. The G-protein activated KIR current is probably due to heteromeric expression of KIR3.1 and KIR3.2. Perhaps KIR2.2 subunits underlie the KIR current when it is constitutively active. The leak conductance can be attributed to TASK-1 and or TASK-3 channels. With less certainty, the IK-slow current may be due to expression of one or more members of the KCNQ or EAG family. Lastly, the delayed-rectifier Kv current has as many as six different potential contributors from the extensive Kv family of alpha subunits. Since many of these subunits are highly regulated by neurotransmitters, physiological regulators and, often, auxiliary subunits, the resulting electrical properties of CGNs may be highly dynamic and subject to constant fine-tuning.     

Nervous function and manifestations of mental psychology in patients with post-stroke depression of different syndrome types of traditional Chinese medicine

BACKGROUND： Poly-criteria pathogenesis of patients with stroke causes diversity of syndrome types of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM）; meanwhile, complexity and diversity of pathological mechanism also play a key role in determining severity so as to induce effects on nervous function and manifestation of mental psychology in patients with post-stroke depression （PSD）. OBJECTIVE： To analyze the syndrome types of TCM with nervous function and manifestations of mental psychology in PSD patients so as to provide evidence for the treatment based on the syndrome differentiation. DESIGN： Contrast observation. SETTING： Departments of Neurology and Traditional Chinese Medicine, General Hospital of Fuxin Mining Industry Group. PARTICIPANTS： A total of 469 outpatients or inpatients with stroke were selected from the Department of Neurology, General Hospital of Fuxin Mining Industry Group from April 2002 to July 2005. All subjects met the diagnostic criteria of stroke established by the Fourth National Cerebrovascular Disease Academic Meeting in 1995 and were finally diagnosed with CT and MRI. Totally, 177 PSD patients were involved in the final analysis and provided the confirmed consent. There were 121 males and 56 females aged from 46 to 79 years. METHODS： （1） All the enrolled subjects were diagnosed for syndrome differentiation by senior TCM physicians within 1 week before discharge based on Diagnostics of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which was classified into 5 types, including sputum-stasis stagnation syndrome, qi stagnation and blood stasis, kidney-essence deficiency, deficiency of the spleen and stomach and phlegm-fire disturbing the heart. In addition, they were also assessed by neurologic deficit scale （NDS; 45 points in total; the higher the scores were, the severer the deficit was）, Fugl-Meyer assessment, （FMA; 100 points in total, including 66 points of upper limbs and 34 points of lower limbs; the higher the scores were, the stronger the motor function was）, modified Barthel index [BI; 100 points in total; the higher the scores were, the better the activity of daily life （ADL） was], symptom checklist-90 （SCL-90; including total scores, positive scores, mean and average scores of positive items）, Hamilton depression rating scale （HAMD） and Hamilton anxiety rating scale （HAMA, the higher the scores were, the severer the degree was）. （2） Patients were divided into one symptom type, two symptom types and ≥ 3 symptom types; meanwhile, they were also divided into deficiency symptom, excess symptom and deficiency-excess symptom. Scores among various groups were compared simultaneously. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： Comparison of nervous function and mental psychology of PSD patients with various symptoms. RESULTS： （1） Differences of various symptoms： Among 177 patients, there were 43 subjects in the types of sputum-stasis stagnation, 64 in qi stagnation and blood stasis, 21 in kidney-essence deficiency, 33 in deficiency of the spleen and stomach, and 16 in phlegm-fire disturbing the heart. In the comparison of the scores of nervous function and psychological tests among different syndrome types, the scores of most motor functions of upper and lower limbs, total scores of FMA and ADL in PSD patients of sputum-stasis stagnation, qi stagnation and blood stasis, kidney-essence deficiency were obviously lower than those of the total samples and PSD patients of deficiency of the spleen and stomach and phlegm-fire disturbing the heart, whereas the total scores of NDS, HAMD, HAMA, SCL-90 and SCL-90 positive items, average number of SCL-90 positive items and average score of SCL-90 positive items in the former three groups were all obviously higher than those in the latter three groups （P 〈 0.05 - 0.01）. （2） Different number of syndrome types： In the comparison of the scores of nervous function and psychological tests among the PSD patients with different number of syndrome types, the scores of most motor functions of upper and lower limbs, total scores of FMA and ADL in PSD patients with one or two syndrome types were obviously higher than those of the total samples and the PSD patients with three or more syndrome types, whereas the total scores of NDS, HAMD, HAMA, SCL-90 and SCL-90 positive items, average number of SCL-90 positive items and average score of SCL-90 positive items were all obviously lower in the former two than in the latter two （P 〈 0.05 - 0.01）. （3） There were no obvious differences in the scores of most items of nervous function and psychological tests among the PSD patients of deficiency syndrome, excess syndrome and the deficiency-excess syndrome （P 〉 0.05）. CONCLUSION： The damages of nervous function and mental psychology are more serious in PSD patients with the syndrome types of sputum-stasis stagnation, qi stagnation and blood stasis, kidney-essence deficiency, as well as those with several （three or more） syndrome types, and the conditions may be improved by the treatment based on TCM syndrome differentiation.     

Dental care utilization in patients with different types of dementia: A longitudinal nationwide study of 58,037 individuals

Introduction

Dementia may be associated with discontinuation of regular dental checkups, which in turn results in poorer oral health.

Is the error-related negativity amplitude related to error detectability? Evidence from effects of different error types

The present study tested error detection theories of the error-related negativity (ERN) by investigating the relation between ERN amplitude and error detectability. To this end, ERN amplitudes were compared with a behavioral measure of error detectability across two different error types in a four-choice flanker task. If an erroneous response was associated with the flankers, it was considered a flanker error, otherwise it was considered a nonflanker error. Two experiments revealed that, whereas detectability was better for nonflanker errors than for flanker errors, ERN amplitudes were larger for flanker errors than for nonflanker errors. Moreover, undetected errors led to strongly reduced ERN amplitudes relative to detected errors. These results suggest that, although error detection is necessary for an ERN to occur, the ERN amplitude is not related to error detectability but rather to error significance.     

Prevalence of Parkinson’s disease and other types of Parkinsonism

OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of Parkinson's disease and parkinsonism in two Spanish populations (Irun and Hondarribia, Bidasoa Region) and to compare the results with those of similar surveys. METHODS: The survey included 2000 participants aged 65 years or older in a door-to-door, three-phase design. In the screening phase we used the SNES (Sicilian Neuro-Epidemiologic Study) screening questionnaire, which has 100% sensitivity. In phases 2 and 3 we carried out a 3-year follow-up of all cases diagnosed with parkinsonism in phase 2. Progressively stricter diagnostic criteria were chosen in order to minimize the impact of false positives on the final results. RESULTS: The prevalence of Parkinson's disease (PD) was 1.5 % (95% confidence interval, 0.9 to 2.3) and the prevalence of other types of parkinsonism (OP) was 1.1 % (95% confidence interval 0.6 to 1.9). The overall prevalence by age group was 0.4 % (65-74 years), 4.7% (75-84 years), and 2.9% (> or =85 years) for Parkinson's disease and 0.7%, 2%, and 3.9 % for parkinsonism, respectively. The other parkinsonism prevalence was 1.3 % in men and 1.6 % in women. CONCLUSIONS: These prevalence rates are similar than those found in studies made in other European countries. The prevalence of both Parkinson's disease and other types of parkinsonism increased with age, with no significant differences between men and women.     

The initial prodrome of schizophrenia: different duration, different underlying deficits?

In light of various suggestions concerning underlying deficits and transition patterns, approaching the initial schizophrenic prodrome is a multifaceted enterprise. Recently, the prodromal phase has largely been viewed as a singular concept. However, observations of greatly varying prodromal time courses prompted us to investigate whether these differences suggest the existence of diverse prodrome subtypes. Our sample consisted of 160 patients from the Cologne Early Recognition study. The 79 patients transiting from prodrome to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition schizophrenia were divided into 3 time groups according to the length of the prodromal state and compared for their initial symptomatology. We found differences in the prominent clinical picture not only regarding single symptoms but also in logistic equations calculated for each group including cognitive deficits only. Our results indicate different underlying deficits: disturbances in bottom-up and top-down loop processes associated with a long prodrome and in top-down processes with medium prodrome, and a deficient central integrating system with short prodrome.     

Do video games evoke specific types of epileptic seizures?

We determined whether epileptic clinical manifestations evoked by playing video games (VG) differ from those evoked by intermittent photic stimulation (IPS) or striped patterns (P). We exposed nine children who had TV- and VG-evoked seizures in daily life to 12 VG after standardized photic stimulation and pattern stimulation. Their EEGs were recorded continuously, analyzed, and then correlated with a video of their behavior. Similar types of clinical signs were seen during VG, P, and IPS, but the signs we observed were more subtle during the VG. Eight patients showed a clear lateralization. A new observation was the lowering of the eyelids to a state of half-closed. Our study suggests that the type of visual stimulus provoking a photoparoxysmal response or seizure is not particularly relevant. The children belonged to different epilepsy groups, and our findings add to the discussion on the boundaries of the epilepsy types.     

Synaptic plasticity and learning. II: Do different kinds of plasticity underlie different kinds of learning?

This paper discusses certain issues connected with the question of whether synaptic plasticity is involved in information storage by the brain. We begin by contrasting two well documented types of synaptic plasticity--activity-dependent modulation of presynaptic facilitation ("Kandel synapses") and NMDA receptor triggered alterations in excitatory amino acid transmission ("Hebb synapses"). We then propose that, embedded-into appropriate circuitry, these different forms of plasticity might underlie different kinds of learning. In partial support of this idea, we show that, in freely moving rats, intrahippocampal microinfusion of the NMDA-receptor antagonist D,L-AP5 causes a dose-dependent impairment of a type of spatial learning known to be sensitive to disruption by hippocampal lesions (water-maze place-navigation). In a second experiment, the same drug infusion protocol is shown to cause a blockade of hippocampal long-term potentiation in vivo across a comparable dose range. Finally, third, autoradiographic experiments indicate that diffusion of the drug was largely restricted to the hippocampus. Together, these results (1) suggest that blockade of hippocampal NMDA receptors, under conditions which leave baseline synaptic transmission relatively unaffected, blocks a type of learning with which the vertebrate hippocampus has been implicated on the basis of neuropsychological work; and (2) supports Abrams and Kandel's Trends Neurosci. 11 (1988) recent proposal that there may be several logically distinct forms of synaptic plasticity.     

Early switching between movement types: indication of predictive control?

In everyday life, we frequently alternate between performing discrete and rhythmic movements. When performing a periodic movement, two distinct movement types can be distinguished: highly harmonic vs. discrete-like. The harmonicity of the movement is used to classify it as one or the other. We asked: (1) whether the frequency at which a periodic movement is performed affects the harmonicity of the resultant movement; and (2) what underlies switching between these movement types. To answer these questions, we studied horizontal flexion/extension forearm movements in 13 young adults over a wide range of frequencies. Movements were performed either at a fixed frequency, or at gradually increasing or decreasing target frequencies. We found movement harmonicity to depend on the frequency of the movement. Furthermore, we found a reverse hysteresis behavior, where participants switched movement type in anticipation of the future-required frequency. These findings suggest that predictive control is employed in switching between movement types.     

FASD: what types of intervention and rehabilitation are useful?

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) occurs worldwide when children are prenatally exposed to alcohol. This paper discusses recent findings regarding the neuropsychological and behavioral effects of prenatal alcohol exposure and how it impacts the developmental and functional abilities of children with FASD. Specifically, recent research focus has concentrated on studies to elucidate a neurobehavioral phenotype for the alcohol-exposed population. As a result, the FASD field has learned what types of neurobehavioral issues occur most frequently with these children. This paper discusses how that information can be used to inform school assessment, intervention planning, and support. Strategies for functional assessment, individualized planning, structured teaching, and developments in cognitive-behavioral methods are described.     

New analyses of the National Institute of Mental Health Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program: Do different treatments reflect different processes?

Abstract

To determine whether or not different therapies have distinct patterns of change, it is useful to investigate not only the end result of psychotherapy (outcome) but also the processes by which outcomes are attained. The present study subjected data from the National Institute of Mental Health Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program to survival analyses to examine whether the process of psychotherapy, as conceptualized by the phase model, differed between psychotherapy treatment approaches. Few differences in terms of progression through phases of psychotherapy were identified between cognitive behavior therapy and interpersonal therapy. Additionally, results indicate that phases of psychotherapy may not represent discrete, sequentially invariant processes.     

Behavioral responses to ingestion of different sources of fat. Involvement of serotonin?

In previous experiments, we described a decrease in extracellular hypothalamic serotonin, 5-hydroxy-tryptamine (5-HT), in response to ingestion of a lard meal. This effect was related to the low satiating potency of lard as compared with other nutrients. Since the composition in fatty acids might be important for these effects, the purpose of this study was to analyze the neurochemical and behavioral responses to ingestion of different sources of fat. Unique meals of three margarines used in human feeding were compared with a meal of lard with regard to their effects on hypothalamic 5-HT, satiety, anxiety-like behavior and sucrose consumption. A vegetable margarine with a high content in saturated fatty acids also decreased hypothalamic 5-HT while ingestion of a sunflower oil and an olive oil enriched margarines, both high in polyunsaturated fatty acids, did not affect significantly 5-HT levels. However, these two last ones were not the most satiating. The olive oil margarine induced a tendency to an anxiety-like behavior while lard increased sucrose consumption. Thus, ingestion of fats may alter specifically behavioral responses. The involvement of 5-HT is likely in the case of lard ingestion but probably not for the other sources of fat.     

Which types of mental work demands may be associated with reduced risk of dementia?

Introduction

Previous studies have demonstrated that an overall high level of mental work demands decreased dementia risk. In our study, we investigated whether this effect is driven by specific mental work demands and whether it is exposure dependent.

Effect of percutaneous radiofrequency thermocoagulation on different neuropathic pains

BACKGROUND: The clinical treatment of neuropathic pain is very troublesome, and the physical method of radiofrequency thermocoagulation is a good choice for its treatment. OBJECTIVE: To observe the curative effect of percutaneous radiofrequency thermocoagulation on neuropathic neuralgia. DESIGN: A case follow-up analysis. SETTING: Minimally Invasive Surgery Room, Department of Neurosurgery, Urumqi General Hospital of Lanzhou Military Area Command of Chinese PLA. PARTICIPANTS: Totally 131 patients were selected from the Department of Neurosurgery, Urumqi General Hospital of Lanzhou Military Area Command of Chinese PLA from December 2000 to June 2006, including 73 males and 58 females, aging 37-72 years old, AND the disease course was 2-15 years. ① Drug treatment failed to alleviate the pain or induced obvious side effects; ② With the same pathological changes as pain and effective in the nerve block test; Had signed the informed consents before treatment. Distribution of the neuropathic pain: ① Trigeminal neuralgia, which were lighting attack, located at V2 in 28 cases, V3 in 46 cases, V1 V2 in 3 cases, V2 V3 in 28 cases, and V1 V2 V3 in 1 case; ② Migraine located at (except the frontal branch of trigeminal nerve) greater and lesser occipital nerves in 6 cases, auriculotemporal nerve in 3 cases, temporal and zygomatic nerves in 3 cases; ③ Unilateral neuralgia of C2 and C3 following herpes zoster in 1 case, and chest intercostals neuralgia in 2 cases; ④ Lasting burning pain in the operative area after thoracotomy was in 1 case of lung cancer. METHODS: ① All the enrolled patients were treated with percutaneous puncture at trigeminal ganglion or peripheral nerve, then nerve block was performed firstly for anesthesia, and the pain disappeared immediately at this moment, there was hypoesthesia or numbness in the area of innervation, which manifested the puncture apposition was correct, then electrostimulation of 50 Hz with the current of 0.1-0.5 V was given for further functional localization. ② The RFG-3C radiofrequency therapeutic instrument (Radionics, USA) was used, the tip of the radiofrequency electrode was exposed for 5 mm, the temperature was kept at 80-85 ℃, 30-60 for each time, and treated for 3 or 4 times. The neuralgia following herpes zoster could also be treated by thermocoagulation at several points. ③ Evaluation standards for the therapeutic efficacy: Excellent meant the pain disappeared completely without taking any anodyne. Good referred to the pain was alleviated as compared with the preoperative one, and it could be effectively controlled by anodyne at relapse, but radiofrequency therapy was unnecessary. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Therapeutic efficacy of neuropathic neuralgia of different types after treatment of percutaneous radiofrequency thermocoagulation. RESULTS: All the 131 patients were involved in the final analysis of results, no one missed. ① Therapeutic efficacy: In the 24-month follow-up, the therapeutic efficacy was excellent in 106 cases (80.9%), good in 21 cases (16.0 %) and had no change in 4 cases (3.1%). For 13 of the patients with trigeminal neuralgia, the pain relapsed after the lesion of peripheral branches, and it disappeared after the second treatment. The treatment was invalid for 1 patient with lung cancer suffering from pain in the operative area after thoracotomy, and the pain was alleviated by spinal cord stimulation. The pain disappeared after treated for 3 times in the patients with cervical neuralgia following herpes zoster. ② The pain relapsed in 28 cases (21.4%) at 12 months of the follow-up. ③ Adverse events and side effects: Except the hypoesthesia of different severity at the site of pain, there was no other complication after treatment. CONCLUSION:The follow-up results showed that percutaneous radiofrequency thermocoagulation is one of the effective methods for treating neuropathic neuralgias of various types.     

Theta activity of septal neurons during different epileptic phases: The same frequency but different significance?

The multiunit activity in the medial septal–diagonal band complex (MSDB) and field potentials of the hippocampus were simultaneously recorded in waking healthy rabbits (control) and in the same animals that were then exposed to kindling stimulation of the perforant path. In the control, the bursts of spikes in one group of rhythmic MSDB neurons phase-locked to the top of theta waves in the hippocampus, and in the second group, to the trough of these waves. The stimulation evoked seizure afterdischarges in the hippocampus and seizure bursts of spikes separated by periods of inhibition in MSDB neurons. In the first group of septal cells, seizure bursts coincided with inhibitory periods between afterdischarges in the hippocampus; in the second group, these bursts were observed during seizure afterdischarges, suggesting that different MSDB cells play opposite roles in the development of seizures. Evoked afterdischarges were spontaneously followed by recurrent ictal events; neuronal oscillations at the theta (6–7 Hz) or “twice-theta” frequency (12–14 Hz) preceded these secondary epileptic discharges. As a result of kindling, interictal spikes were recorded in the hippocampus; at the same time, synchronous bursts of many cells appeared in the MSDB. In the epileptic brain, the frequency of both the hippocampal theta rhythm and MSDB neuronal theta bursts increased; in the septum, an augmentation of neuronal rhythmicity was also observed. Theta oscillations, either spontaneous or evoked by sensory stimulation, abolished the epileptiform events. Evidently, the activities within the theta range during preictal and interictal periods are of different significance in the generation of seizures.     

Structural preferences of Aβ fragments in different micellar environments

Amyloid diseases occur due to conformational change in the native protein. Understanding the amyloid peptide structural stability and conformational preference at the molecular level in membranous environment may lead to advancement in drug design and therapy. The conformational preferences of amyloid peptide fragments, Aβ_1–11, Aβ_12–22, Aβ_23–33 and Aβ_34–42 was studied in buffers, trifluoroethanol (TFE) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelles using circular dichroism spectroscopy. The fragment, Aβ_1–11 in TFE adopts a mixture of random coil and turn conformations. Aβ_12–22 and Aβ_23-33 underwent transition from random coil to helix conformation, while Aβ_34–42 exhibited β-sheet conformation in initial stage which was unaltered on complete evaporation of TFE. Addition of SDS to Aβ_12–22 and Aβ_34–42 favors β-sheet structure, which was predominant in the case of Aβ_34–42. However, in Aβ_1–11 and Aβ_23–33, no secondary structural change was noticed even at high SDS concentrations. On aging, all the peptide fragments showed β-sheet conformational transition. The C-terminal fragment has the ability to adopt predominant β-sheet conformation even in the presence of detergent and membrane mimicking environment. Altogether, the structural information gained from the short fragments could be further used for determining their role in the organization of Aβ peptide in stable fibril form.     

Stoichiometry and pharmacology of two human α4β2 nicotinic receptor types

The alpha4beta2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is the most abundant nAChR subtype in the brain, where it forms the high-affinity binding site for nicotine. The alpha4beta2 nAChR belongs to a gene family of ligand-gated ion channels that also includes muscle nAChRs, GABAA receptors, and glycine receptors and that assembles into pentameric structures. alpha4 and beta2 nAChR subunits expressed heterologously in Xenopus laevis oocytes assemble into a mixture of high- and low-affinity functional receptors, giving rise to biphasic ACh concentration-response curves (Zwart and Vijverberg, 1998; Buisson and Bertrand, 2001; Houlihan et al., 2001). High- and low-affinity alpha4beta2 nAChRs differ significantly in their functional and pharmacological properties (Zwart and Vijverberg, 1998; Buisson and Bertrand, 2001; Houlihan et al., 2001; Nelson et al., 2003) and result from the assembly of alpha4 and beta2 subunits into two distinct stoichiometric arrangements: (alpha4)2(beta2)3(high-affinity subtype) and (alpha4)3(beta2)2 (low-affinity subtype) (Nelson et al., 2003). In this study we have examined the functional and pharmacological properties of high- and low-affinity alpha4beta2 receptors using two-electrode voltage clamp procedures on Xenopus oocytes transfected with high (1:10) or low (10:1) ratios of alpha4/beta2 cDNAs, which yield high (1:10)- or low (10:1)- affinity receptors with monophasic ACh concentration- response curves. Furthermore, to determine the stoichiometry of high- and low-affinity receptors expressed heterologously by Xenopus oocytes, we have determined the stoichiometry of high- and low-affinity alpha4beta2 receptors by mutating a highly conserved hydrophobic residue in the middle (position 9') of the pore-lining domain, which increases agonist potency in a manner that allows predictions on subunit composition (Cooper et al., 1991; Revah et al., 1991; Labarca et al., 1995; Boorman et al., 2000).     

Alcohol consumption, types of alcoholic beverages and risk of venous thromboembolism - the Tromsø Study

Moderate alcohol consumption has been shown to protect against cardiovascular diseases. The association between alcohol consumption, especially types of alcoholic beverages, and venous thromboembolism (VTE) is less well described. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of alcohol consumption and different alcoholic beverages on risk of VTE. Information on alcohol consumption was collected by a self-administrated questionnaire in 26,662 subjects, aged 25-97 years, who participated in the Troms? Study, in 1994-1995. Subjects were followed through September 1, 2007 with incident VTE as the primary outcome. There were 460 incident VTE-events during a median of 12.5 years of follow-up. Total alcohol consumption was not associated with risk of incident VTE. However, subjects consuming ≥ 3 units of liquor per week had 53% increased risk of VTE compared to teetotalers in analyses adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, smoking, diabetes, cancer, previous cardiovascular disease, physical activity and higher education (HR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.00-2.33). Contrary, subjects with a wine intake of ≥ 3 units/week had 22% reduced risk of VTE (HR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.47-1.30), further adjustment for liquor and beer intake strengthened the protective effect of wine (HR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.30-1.00). Frequent binge drinkers (≥ 1/week) had a 17% increased risk of VTE compared to teetotallers (HR 1.17, 95% CI: 0.66-2.09), and a 47% increased risk compared to non-binge drinkers (HR 1.47, 95% CI: 0.85-2.54). In conclusion, liquor consumption and binge drinking was associated with increased risk of VTE, whereas wine consumption was possibly associated with reduced risk of VTE.