RT Journal Article
T1 Electrophysiological sexual dimorphism as an early risk marker of alcohol use in adolescence: A longitudinal neuroimaging study
A1 Del Cerro León, Alberto
A1 Uceta García, Marcos
A1 Shpakivska Bilan, Danylyna
A1 Suárez Méndez, Isabel
A1 Peribáñez Baz, Héctor
A1 Cuesta Prieto, Pablo
A1 Bruña Fernández, Ricardo
A1 García Moreno, Luis Miguel
A1 Maestu Unturbe, Fernando
A1 Antón Toro, Luis Fernando
AB Aims: To identify the brain activity profiles associated with alcohol consumption and toaddress its causes. Furthermore, we sought to examine the relationship between theseelectrophysiological markers and the excitation–inhibition balance, as well as to explorethe potential moderating role of sex in these associations.Design: Longitudinal study involving a neuroimaging assessment that included magneto-encephalography (MEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), along with a battery ofself-report questionnaires. A follow-up assessment was conducted two years later usingthe same set of neuroimaging and behavioural measures.Setting and participants: 56 adolescents aged 13 to 17 years recruited from high schoolsin the community of Madrid, Spain, prior to the initiation of alcohol use.Measurements: We extracted measures of power spectral density and excitation–inhibition balance across the brain from MEG recordings and cognitive traits related torisk behaviors from a battery of self-report questionnaires. Alcohol consumption wasevaluated during the follow-up visit through structured individual interviews.Findings: Power-spectra in beta-band showed a positive correlation with alcohol useduring both stages (baseline: rho = 0.33, P < 0.05; follow-up: rho = 0.35; P < 0.05) and anegative correlation with excitation–inhibition ratio (baseline: P < 0.001; rho = −0.56;follow-up: P < 0.01; rho = −0.37). Finally, biological sex showed strong moderationeffect, where females drove the predictive relationship (P < 0.001; rho = 0.64; β =−0,61).Conclusion: Spontaneous electrophysiological brain activity may provide an early bio-marker of future alcohol use in females and appears to be associated with activity pro-files prone to inhibition.
PB Wiley Online Library, Society for the Study of Addiction
SN 0965-2140
YR 2025
FD 2025-11-10
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/126169
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/126169
LA eng
NO Del Cerro‐León, A., Uceta, M., Shpakivska‐Bilan, D., Suárez‐Méndez, I., Peribáñez‐Baz, H., Cuesta, P., Bruña, R., García‐Moreno, L. M., Maestú, F., & Antón‐Toro, L. F. (2025). Electrophysiological sexual dimorphism as an early risk marker of alcohol use in adolescence: A longitudinal neuroimaging study. Addiction, add.70246. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70246
NO Funds for conducting this research were received from Plan Nacional sobre Drogas in the 2014 (PR2014), 2017 (PNSD2017|039) and 2021 (PNSD2021|075) rounds of funding from the Ministerio de Sanidad of Spain.
NO Ministerio de Sanidad (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 26 feb 2026