Miss Sophie Betka
Sophie Betka is a qualified Neuropsychologist, graduated from France. She, first, did a bachelor of Psychology with a focus on psychanalytic obedience and quickly realised her interest for Affective Neuroscience, Psychiatry and Addictology. She, then, specialized in Neuropsychology and Clinical Neuroscience by doing a Research Master in Lille and Grenoble. In the meantime, Sophie carried out a research project exploring the emotional decoding in Alcoholism using electroencephalography (EEG). She also had several positions as a trainee or qualified Neuropsychologist in geriatric wards, addiction centres and psychiatric units. Passionate by research in Addictions, Sophie is now undertaking a PhD at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School under the supervision of the Professor Hugo Critchley. Her project focuses on the relationship between Alexithymia and Interoception, as well as on the impact of Oxytocin, in Heavy and Binge Drinking. To answer her hypotheses, Sophie is using innovative imaging technics such as multiband fMRI and Spectroscopy.
Bodily sensation processing in social drinking
In this presentation, I present some recent findings from my SSA-funded PhD project. One of my studies was exploring -for the first time- the integrity of the insular cortex in social drinkers, using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, voxel and surface-based morphometry.
The insula is usually referred to as an interoceptive hub which integrates physiological inputs in representation of bodily responses and subjective feeling states. In the last decade, a growing body of evidence highlighted the role of the insular cortex in drug seeking behaviour. At the neurochemical level, alcohol is known to interact with the glutamatergic neurotransmission; leading to neuronal death and cerebral atrophy. Thirty-two healthy male social drinkers filled questionnaires related to severity of alcohol intake, craving and interoceptive sensitivity. Insular glutamate plus Glutamine (Glx) and total N-acetylaspartate plus N-acetyl-aspar-tylglutamate (TNAA) concentrations were measured from a voxel placed in the right mid-insula, using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Whole brain as well as region of interest analyses (right insula) were run to evaluate the relationship between psychometric measures, volume and surface parameters.
Social drinking was related to a reduction of insular Glx concentration and to a decreased insular gyrification. Increased insular tNAA concentration and increased insular gyrification were observed in participants with high interoceptive sensitivity. Moreover, subjective rating of craving was positively correlated with increased grey matter in the dorsal striatum. This study is, to date, the first study to explore the neurochemical and morphological integrity of the insular cortex in social drinkers. Together, these data reveal a modulation of insular glutamate plus glutamine concentration as well as a modulation of brain volume and surface parameters by alcohol use. These abnormalities may lead to loss of control over alcohol and shift to compulsive drinking. Further (longitudinal) studies should explore the evolution of interoceptive processes through the different stages of alcohol and drug development.