Run, Frank The Tank, Run

“We’re going streaking!” yells Frank “The Tank” Ricard, already nude and stumbling around, looking for partners to accompany him on his run through the quad and into the gymnasium. Almost all students have either been in or seen someone in Frank’s condition, drunk and out of control at a wild fraternity party, during this scene from Todd Phillips’s 2003 film Old School. While most, if not all college students are aware that drunkenness involves alcohol entering the blood system, few know that the alcoholic substances they so regularly consume affect the brain by altering its metabolism. Students should enjoy themselves in college, but they also have the responsibility to learn exactly what they are doing to their brains as they consume beer after beer. Researchers at the State University of New York in Stony Brook (Zhu et al.), no doubt deeply concerned about Frank and his colleagues, looked further into the relationship between changes in metabolism and changes in behavior. They found that alcohol affects the various parts of the brain differently, resulting in a drunken feeling that causes the loss of cognitive and motor skills.

How does the brain’s altered processing encourage Frank “the Tank” to streak through a college campus, and how does it make his streaking more physically challenging? Previous studies (Eckardt, 1990) have shown that alcohol changes the metabolism in certain regions of the brain, specifically concerning the metabolism of glucose, the body’s source of energy. It has been theorized that this is a likely cause of drunken behavior. However, prior to Eckardt’s study, scientists had failed to find a correlation between these metabolic changes and the behavioral changes and degenerating motor skills.

A study was conducted by Wei Zhu and colleagues to investigate how metabolic changes affect drunken behavior and coordination. To answer this question, ten men and ten women, all healthy and between 29-48 years of age, were physically, neurologically, and psychiatrically examined. Barred from the study were persons with previous alcohol or drug related illnesses, or those categorized as regular drinkers (exceeding five drinks per week) and smoker (exceeding two packs of cigarettes per day). All participants refrained from alcohol consumption for a week leading up to the study.

A PET scan, which creates a picture of the brain by measuring emissions of positron particles from the brain, was used to monitor the participants’ brain activities. The PET scan was performed twice on patients, once after subjects had consumed a placebo in a diet soda (100 mL) and once after a drink containing 95% alcohol in a diet soda (100 mL together). Thirteen regions of the brain were monitored for metabolic activity by the PET scan.

In addition to the PET scan, several tests were used to measure participants’ motor abilities. Anyone who has watched an episode of Cops would be familiar with the tests used: walking heel to toe, touching the tip of one’s nose, tapping one’s hand to keep rhythm, and standing with one’s arms at ninety degrees on one foot. In addition, subjects were questioned on their perceived levels of intoxication, sleepiness, dizziness, and highness, rated on a scale of one to ten. Also put into question were the cognitive effects of alcohol, using various tests to measure a subject’s awareness and reasoning.

Statistical tests were then used to identify correlations between the thirteen brain regions monitored, the six cognitive tests, the four motor skills tests, and the four behavioral tests. In all but one test, the variables experienced notable changes when comparing the results before and after drinking the spiked soda. This coincided with large decreases in the absolute metabolism throughout each of the thirteen regions of the brain. On the other hand, only seven of the thirteen regions showed notable changes in relative metabolism.

To find correlation between metabolism and the affects of drinking, scientists compared the results of several primary components. The data confirms the researchers’ theory that as alcohol alters the brain’s metabolism, a strong connection can be made to simultaneous changes in motor function, cognitive function, and behavior. The behavior of individual regions of the brain was not found to be a factor. Rather, it is the change in the brain’s overall patterns of operation.

Researchers first looked at alcohol’s contrasting affects in the cingulate (folds in the brain controlling emotions, sense of pain, and aggression) and the cerebellum (responsible for speech, learning, emotions, and attention). When Frank “The Tank” decides it is time to streak, it is his cingulate and his cerebellum feeling the contrasting effects of alcohol. The different effects felt by the cerebellum and the cortices (responsible for motor skills) were also compared. As Frank drops his microphone and awkwardly bends over to pick it up, much to the displeasure of the college crowd, it is the contrast in these two areas of the brain impairing his motor skills. The third comparison dealt with basal ganglia (a collection of nuclei masses effecting motor movements) against temporal insula (involved in involuntary operations and the functioning of internal organs). When you decide to run alongside Frank, no doubt feeling drunk, you can blame the basal ganglia’s metabolism contrasting with the insula’s metabolism for your decision.

Zhu et al. have uncovered new information in alcohol research faster than Frank on his way to a KFC restaurant. These researchers have begun to understand how drunkenness stems from alcohol creating contrasting effects in different regions of the brain. It is these metabolic disparities resulting from alcohol intake which inhibit cognitive and motor skills and can cause the brightest of Duke students to go crazy. While most students are content enjoying the effects of alcohol, they should also take more interest in this research. Students cannot properly care for themselves unless they are aware of what alcohol is actually doing to their most vital organ. After all, you’ll need some excuse when the police find you jogging down the street in nothing but your green hat.

Works Cited

Eckardt, M. J., Rohrbaugh, J. W., Rio, D. E. and Martin, P. R. (1990) “Positron emission tomography as a technique for studying the chronic effects of alcohol on the human brain.” Annals of Medicine 22, 341––345.

Old School. Directed by Todd Phillips. 2003. Screenplay by Todd Phillips, Scott Armstrong. Produced by Todd Phillips, Scot Armstrong. DreamWorks Pictures.

Zhu, Wei et al. 2004. “Relationship Between Ethanol-Induced Changes in Brain Regional Metabolism and its Motor, Behavioural, and Cognitive Effects”. Alcohol and Alcoholism. Vol. 39, No.1, pp 53-58.