Lili Nie1,2, Dara G Ghahremani2, Mark A Mandelkern3, Andy C Dean2, Wei Luo4, Anlian Ren5, Jing Li1, Edythe D London2,6. 1. Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. 2. Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA. 3. Department of Physics, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA. 4. Sichuan Provincial Compulsory Drug Addiction Treatment Agency for Females, Deyang, China. 5. Sichuan Provincial Compulsory Drug Addiction Treatment Agency for Males, Ziyang, China. 6. Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Abstract
Background: Brain structural findings in chronic methamphetamine users have been inconsistent. Identifying contributing influences (e.g., sex, abstinence duration) can help clarify the clinical course of recovery. Objectives: We studied the effects of long-term methamphetamine abstinence on gray-matter volume. Our hypothesis was that smaller volume early in abstinence would precede long-term recovery. Methods: Individuals who used methamphetamine (≥100 g lifetime use, mandated to residential treatment for methamphetamine-positive urine; 40 men, 21 women), undergoing supervised abstinence (men: 12-400 days; women: 130-594 days), were compared to healthy controls (49 men, 36 women) using T1-weighted MRI. Volumes of orbitofrontal, anterior cingulate and parietal cortex, hippocampus, and striatum were measured using Freesurfer software. Associations of volumes with abstinence duration were tested in males and females separately because their abstinence times differed (121.5 ± 124.5 vs. 348.0 ± 128.6 days, p < 0.001); only males were studied in early abstinence. The General Linear Model was used to test effects of abstinence duration and group (methamphetamine users vs. controls). Results: In males, duration of abstinence was multivariate significant for gray-matter volumes (p = 0.017). Abstinence duration was associated with increases in volumes of the orbitofrontal and parietal cortices (ps = 0.031, 0.016) and hippocampi (ps = 0.044). Irrespective of abstinence, male methamphetamine users had smaller hippocampi than male controls (p = 0.008). Females showed no significant effects of group or abstinence.Conclusions: In males, abstinence from methamphetamine appears to result in volumetric increases in regions important for cognitive function, which may affect recovery during the course of treatment. Data from the period of early abstinence are required to evaluate volumetric changes in females.
Background: Brain structural findings in chronic methamphetamine users have been inconsistent. Identifying contributing influences (e.g., sex, abstinence duration) can help clarify the clinical course of recovery. Objectives: We studied the effects of long-term methamphetamine abstinence on gray-matter volume. Our hypothesis was that smaller volume early in abstinence would precede long-term recovery. Methods: Individuals who used methamphetamine (≥100 g lifetime use, mandated to residential treatment for methamphetamine-positive urine; 40 men, 21 women), undergoing supervised abstinence (men: 12-400 days; women: 130-594 days), were compared to healthy controls (49 men, 36 women) using T1-weighted MRI. Volumes of orbitofrontal, anterior cingulate and parietal cortex, hippocampus, and striatum were measured using Freesurfer software. Associations of volumes with abstinence duration were tested in males and females separately because their abstinence times differed (121.5 ± 124.5 vs. 348.0 ± 128.6 days, p < 0.001); only males were studied in early abstinence. The General Linear Model was used to test effects of abstinence duration and group (methamphetamine users vs. controls). Results: In males, duration of abstinence was multivariate significant for gray-matter volumes (p = 0.017). Abstinence duration was associated with increases in volumes of the orbitofrontal and parietal cortices (ps = 0.031, 0.016) and hippocampi (ps = 0.044). Irrespective of abstinence, male methamphetamine users had smaller hippocampi than male controls (p = 0.008). Females showed no significant effects of group or abstinence.Conclusions: In males, abstinence from methamphetamine appears to result in volumetric increases in regions important for cognitive function, which may affect recovery during the course of treatment. Data from the period of early abstinence are required to evaluate volumetric changes in females.
Entities:
Keywords:
Methamphetamine; abstinence; magnetic resonance imaging; volumes of interest
Authors: Johannes Petzold; Andy C Dean; Jean-Baptiste Pochon; Dara G Ghahremani; Richard De La Garza; Edythe D London Journal: Addict Biol Date: 2022-09 Impact factor: 4.093