SOME RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN BLOOD ALCOHOL, POSITIONAL ALCOHOL NYSTAGMUS (PAN), AND POSTURAL EQUILIBRIUM (ATAXIA)

Quantitative relationships were explored between blood alcohol levels, positional alcohol nystagmus PAN, and postural equilibrium performances measured with a new quantitative ataxia test battery and with a series of clinical-type ataxia tests. Moderate amounts of 80-proof vodka 1 cc per lb body wt. 55-100 mg blood alcohol level produced appreciable decrements in the postural equilibrium functioning of all thirteen vestibular normal subjects evaluated. Maximum decrements occurred at 60-75 minutes following alcohol intake and were fairly well correlated with the peak blood alcohol levels. But more strikingly, the ataxic responses were in very close agreement with the intensity and duration of the PAN I intoxication period responses along the time axis. No systematic relationships between the ataxia test performances and PAN phase II responses were found rather, the ataxic performances improved to virtually complete, if not complete, recovery during the PAN II period. Repetition of the experiment two days later with the same subjects under increased stimulation 100-proof vodka in the same dosage reproduced the findings generally proportional to the increased stimulus.