Mega-analysis of gray matter volume in substance dependence: General and substance-specific regional effects
Publication year
2019Author(s)
Number of pages
10 p.
Source
American Journal of Psychiatry, 176, 2, (2019), pp. 119-128ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor
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Organization
Psychiatry
SW OZ BSI OGG
PI Group Motivational & Cognitive Control
Journal title
American Journal of Psychiatry
Volume
vol. 176
Issue
iss. 2
Languages used
English (eng)
Page start
p. 119
Page end
p. 128
Subject
170 000 Motivational & Cognitive Control; All institutes and research themes of the Radboud University Medical Center; Developmental Psychopathology; Radboudumc 13: Stress-related disorders DCMN: Donders Center for Medical NeuroscienceAbstract
Objective: Although lower brain volume has been routinely observed in individuals with substance dependence compared with nondependent control subjects, the brain regions exhibiting lower volume have not been consistent across studies. In addition, it is not clear whether a common set of regions are involved in substance dependence regardless of the substance used or whether some brain volume effects are substance specific. Resolution of these issues may contribute to the identification of clinically relevant imaging biomarkers. Using pooled data from 14 countries, the authors sought to identify general and substance-specific associations between dependence and regional brain volumes. Method: Brain structure was examined in a mega-analysis of previously published data pooled from 23 laboratories, including 3,240 individuals, 2,140 of whom had substance dependence on one of five substances: alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, methamphetamine, or cannabis. Subcortical volume and cortical thickness in regions defined by FreeSurfer were compared with nondependent control subjects when all sampled substance categories were combined, as well as separately, while controlling for age, sex, imaging site, and total intracranial volume. Because of extensive associations with alcohol dependence, a secondary contrast was also performed for dependence on all substances except alcohol. An optimized split-half strategy was used to assess the reliability of the findings. Results: Lower volume or thickness was observed in many brain regions in individuals with substance dependence. The greatest effects were associated with alcohol use disorder. A set of affected regions related to dependence in general, regardless of the substance, included the insula and the medial orbitofrontal cortex. Furthermore, a support vector machine multivariate classification of regional brain volumes successfully classified individuals with substance dependence on alcohol or nicotine relative to nondependent control subjects. Conclusions: The results indicate that dependence on a range of different substances shares a common neural substrate and that differential patterns of regional volume could serve as useful biomarkers of dependence on alcohol and nicotine.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Academic publications [238441]
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging [3824]
- Electronic publications [122544]
- Faculty of Medical Sciences [90373]
- Faculty of Social Sciences [29483]
- Open Access publications [97535]
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