Myelinated nerve fibres in the subcortical white matter of cerebral hemispheres are preserved in alcoholic subjects

Previous studies have found that the primary change in the brain of chronic alcoholics is a selective loss of white matter in cerebral hemispheres. It is unknown whether the loss of white matter is due to alcohol-induced degeneration of axons in white matter, and this hypothesis has never been tested. We used a newly developed stereological method to investigate whether the length and diameter of myelinated fibres change in the subcortical white matter of male alcoholic subjects. We found no significant differences between control and alcoholic subjects with respect to the total volume, total length, and mean diameter of myelinated fibres in white matter. Our results do not find any support for the hypothesis that chronic alcoholic subjects may suffer from a degeneration of axons (myelinated fibres) in white matter in cerebral hemispheres.