There is evidence for impairment in both central nervous system (CNS) and autonomic nervous system (ANS) function with prolonged alcohol use. While these impairments persist into abstinence, partial recovery of function has been demonstrated in both systems during sleep. To investigate potential ANS dysfunction associated with cortical CNS responses (impairment in CNS-ANS coupling), we assessed phasic heart rate (HR) fluctuation associated with tones that did and those that did not elicit a K-complex (KC) during stable N2 non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep in a group of 16 recently abstinent alcohol use disorder (AUD) patients (41.6 ± 8.5 years) and a group of 13 sex- and age-matched control participants (46.6 ± 9.3 years). Electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) data were recorded throughout the night. Alcohol consumption questionnaires were also administered to the AUD patients. AUD patients had elevated HR compared to controls at baseline prior to tone presentation. The HR fluctuation associated with KCs elicited by tone presentation was significantly smaller in amplitude, and tended to be delayed in time, in the AUD group compared with the control group, and the subsequent deceleration was also smaller in AUD patients. In both groups, the increase in HR was larger and occurred earlier when KCs were produced than when they were not, and there was no difference in the magnitude of the KC effect between groups. Phasic HR changes associated with KCs elicited by tones are impaired in AUD participants, reflecting ANS dysfunction possibly caused by an alteration of cardiac vagal trafficking. However, only the timing of the HR response was found to relate to estimated lifetime alcohol consumption in AUD. The clinical meaning and implications of these novel findings need to be determined.

中文翻译：

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酒精使用障碍患者睡眠期间诱发 K 复合物并改变中枢神经系统和自主神经系统之间的相互作用。


有证据表明，长期饮酒会损害中枢神经系统 (CNS) 和自主神经系统 (ANS) 功能。虽然这些损伤在戒酒期间持续存在，但在睡眠期间两个系统的功能均已部分恢复。为了研究与皮质 CNS 反应相关的潜在 ANS 功能障碍（CNS-ANS 耦合受损），我们评估了与稳定 N2 非稳定期间引起 K 复合体 (KC) 的音调相关的相性心率 (HR) 波动。 - 一组 16 名最近戒酒的酒精使用障碍 (AUD) 患者（41.6 ± 8.5 岁）和一组 13 名性别和年龄匹配的对照参与者（46.6 ± 9.3 岁）的快速眼动 (NREM) 睡眠。整个晚上记录脑电图（EEG）和心电图（ECG）数据。还对 AUD 患者进行了饮酒量调查问卷。在出现音调之前，AUD 患者的心率与基线时的对照组相比有所升高。与对照组相比，AUD 组中与音调呈现引起的 KC 相关的 HR 波动幅度明显较小，并且在时间上趋于延迟，并且 AUD 患者随后的减速也较小。在两组中，当产生 KC 时，HR 的增加幅度更大且发生得更早，并且组间 KC 效应的大小没有差异。 AUD 参与者中与音调引起的 KC 相关的阶段性 HR 变化受到损害，反映了可能由心脏迷走神经运输改变引起的 ANS 功能障碍。然而，仅发现 HR 响应的时间与估计的终生饮酒量（澳元）有关。 需要确定这些新发现的临床意义和影响。