Relationship between the Level of Alcohol Use and the Concentrations of Some Neuropeptides and Proteins in Blood Serum

The development of novel highly informative approaches to the assessment of chronic alcohol use is still an urgent problem, especially against the background of increase in alcohol dependence detected in 2023 in Russia for the first time over the past two decades. The present study was aimed at evaluating the level of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), neuropeptide Y (NPY), and pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP) in the blood of tested subjects with different levels of alcohol use. For this purpose, the following groups of subjects were formed: healthy persons (group 1, n = 10), persons with periodical alcohol use (group 2, n = 10), persons with the consequences of using alcohol (group 3, n = 10), persons with the alcohol dependence syndrome in the acute phase (group 4, n = 10), and persons undergoing rehabilitation (group 5, n = 10). The studies have shown a relationship between ethanol consumption levels and the serum concentration of BDNF, which was 20%, 2.5 times and 40% lower relative to the control in patients from group 3, group 4 and group 5, respectively. The NPY concentration was 2.3-fold and 4.3-fold higher in the blood serum of patients from groups 2 and 3, respectively. The GDNF and PACAP levels in the blood of subjects from groups 2–5 were not significantly different from the control. The changes in the BDNF level are probably associated with the formation of new neuroadaptations and the unbalance of neuromediators typical of the dependence syndrome. The changes in the level of NPY are most likely a responce to an acute stress, more typical of subjects with the initial forms of alcoholic disorder. Thus, with BDNF and NPY used as markers, it is possible to objectify the strategy of differential diagnostics of mental and behavioral disordes associated with alcohol use. Evaluation of changes in these markers allows differentaition of persons periodically using alcohol without the development of complications and persons with harmful use of alcohol.