Implicación del sistema inmune innato en las alteraciones cognitivas y emocionales del Síndrome de Wernicke-Korsakoff

Abstract

Wernicke's encephalopathy (WE) and Korsakoff's syndrome (KS) are neuropsychiatric disorders that represent a temporal continuum of the same disease, known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS), whose origin is thiamine (TD) or vitamin B1 deficiency. Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) has always been the main cause related to this disease, due to the associated malnutrition, and the impairment of thiamine absorption and utilization by alcohol. Other conditions independent of alcohol abuse that can lead to the development of the disease include disorders such as hyperemesis gravidarum, peptic ulcers, interventions as bariatric surgery, etc.Thiamine is an essential nutrient, especially because of its involvement in energy metabolism, since in its active form it is a cofactor of five enzyme complexes crucial for the efficient functioning of cells. The brain has the highest energy needs in comparison with the rest of the organs, so this vitamin plays an essential role in nerve function. Among the brain regions that are highly vulnerable to TD are mainly diencephalic structures, such as the thalamus and the mammillary bodies. Other areas susceptible to damage are the frontal cortex and the cerebellum, which have been less studied in the context of this pathology, although their involvement plays a very important role in the symptomatology, reasons why these areas have been a focus of study in this Doctoral Thesis...