The effect of long-term heavy alcohol consumption on brain functions is still under debate. The authors investigated a sample of 17 Korsakoff amnesics, 23 alcoholics without Korsakoff's syndrome, and 21 controls with peripheral nerve diseases, matched for intelligence and education. Executive functions were examined for word fluency, the modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, an alternate response task, and an "n-back" working memory task. Korsakoff amnesics, but not alcoholics, showed a marked memory impairment. They also scored lower in each of the executive tasks-the alcoholics only in the alternate response task. This task also correlated with the years of the alcohol dependency. First, the authors conclude that Korsakoff's syndrome is associated not only with a memory impairment but also with a global executive deficit. Second, the decline in the ability to alternate between different responses argues for a restricted neurotoxic effect of alcohol on some frontal lobe areas.

The central role played by cerebrospinal-fluid (CSF) examinations including antineuronal autoantibody (Ab) testing is increasingly recognized in psychiatry. The rationale of this study was to present a multimodally investigated group of patients. In total, 992 patients were analyzed for CSF alterations: 456 patients with schizophreniform and 536 with affective syndromes. Ab measurement included testing for established antineuronal IgG-Abs against intracellular antigens in serum (Yo/Hu/Ri/cv2[CRMP5]/Ma1/Ma2/SOX1/TR[DNER]/Zic4/amphiphysin/GAD65) and for cell surface antigens in the CSF (NMDAR/AMPA-1/2-R/GABA-B-R/LGI1/CASPR2/DPPX). In 30 patients with “red flags” for autoimmune psychosis, “tissue tests” were performed. Additional diagnostics included MRI and EEG analyses. CSF white-blood-cell counts were increased in 4% and IgG indices in 2%; CSF-specific oligoclonal bands were detected in 4%; overall, 8% displayed signs of neuroinflammation. In addition, 18% revealed increased albumin quotients. Antineuronal Abs against intracellular antigens were detected in serum in 0.6%. Antineuronal Abs against established cell surface antigens were detected in serum of 1% and in the CSF of 0.3% (CSF samples were only questionably positive). Abnormal IgG binding in “tissue tests” was detected in serum of 23% and in CSF of 27%. In total, 92% of the Ab-positive patients demonstrated at least one sign of brain involvement in additional diagnostics using CSF, MRI, EEG, and FDG-PET. In summary, CSF basic analyses revealed signs of blood–brain-barrier dysfunction and neuroinflammation in relevant subgroups of patients. Established antineuronal IgG-Abs were rare in serum and even rarer in the CSF. “Tissue tests” revealed frequent occurrences of Ab-binding; therefore, novel antineuronal Abs could play a relevant role in psychiatry.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a highly disabling mental illness that can be divided into frequent primary and rarer organic secondary forms. Its association with secondary autoimmune triggers was introduced through the discovery of Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal infection (PANDAS) and Pediatric Acute onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS). Autoimmune encephalitis and systemic autoimmune diseases or other autoimmune brain diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, have also been reported to sometimes present with obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS). Subgroups of patients with OCD show elevated proinflammatory cytokines and autoantibodies against targets that include the basal ganglia. In this conceptual review paper, the clinical manifestations, pathophysiological considerations, diagnostic investigations, and treatment approaches of immune-related secondary OCD are summarized. The novel concept of “autoimmune OCD” is proposed for a small subgroup of OCD patients, and clinical signs based on the PANDAS/PANS criteria and from recent experience with autoimmune encephalitis and autoimmune psychosis are suggested. Red flag signs for “autoimmune OCD” could include (sub)acute onset, unusual age of onset, atypical presentation of OCS with neuropsychiatric features (e.g., disproportionate cognitive deficits) or accompanying neurological symptoms (e.g., movement disorders), autonomic dysfunction, treatment resistance, associations of symptom onset with infections such as group A streptococcus, comorbid autoimmune diseases or malignancies. Clinical investigations may also reveal alterations such as increased levels of anti-basal ganglia or dopamine receptor antibodies or inflammatory changes in the basal ganglia in neuroimaging. Based on these red flag signs, the criteria for a possible, probable, and definite autoimmune OCD subtype are proposed.