# Alcohol and Neurovascular Control in Humans

> **NIH NIH R01** · MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY - BOZEMAN · 2021 · $144,610

## Abstract

Project Summary
There is wide-spread recognition that `binge' alcohol consumption is associated with increased cardiovascular
risk, but much of this is based on epidemiological studies and mechanisms remain poorly understood.
Sympathetic overactivity has been suggested as a potential mechanism for alcohol-mediated cardiovascular
disease, but direct evidence is lacking. The proposed project represents our first step in the pursuit of a long-
term goal to explore alcohol-mediated hypertension, stroke, and sudden cardiac death, and practical
interventions that might reduce the incidence of these cardiovascular conditions. The proposed project focuses
on the impact of evening alcohol consumption on nocturnal and early morning autonomic function and
reactivity in male and female binge drinkers. In aim 1, will determine the effect of evening alcohol consumption
on nocturnal autonomic control and sympathetic neural responsiveness the subsequent morning. Aim 2 will
determine the influence of sex (male vs. female) and the ovarian cycle (early follicular vs. midluteal phase) on
sympathetic neural responsiveness to evening alcohol in humans. Aim 3 will determine if continuous positive
airway pressure (CPAP) blunts alcohol-mediated sympathoexcitation at night and early morning. An
exploratory aim will determine if autonomic responses to alcohol and CPAP are associated with affective states
and psychomotor performance. Our central hypothesis is that evening alcohol consumption will elicit
sympathetic overactivity at night and the subsequent morning, and that this sympathoexcitation will be
augmented women and blunted after CPAP treatment. The novelty and innovation of this project is that our
mechanistic aims are bolstered with an interventional aim that includes a randomized, control trial (CPAP vs.
sham-CPAP). The project utilizes established, gold-standard methods for assessing sleep (polysomnography)
and sympathetic neural activity and reactivity (microneurography). In summary, this project will determine the
impact of simulated `binge' alcohol consumption on neural cardiovascular function at times of elevated
cardiovascular risk (i.e., sleep and early morning) in male and female binge drinkers, and test a potential
therapeutic strategy (i.e., CPAP) to blunt alcohol-induced autonomic dysfunction.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10237243
- **Project number:** 5R01AA024892-06
- **Recipient organization:** MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY - BOZEMAN
- **Principal Investigator:** Jason R Carter
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $144,610
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-15 → 2022-07-06

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10237243

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10237243, Alcohol and Neurovascular Control in Humans (5R01AA024892-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10237243. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*