Chung Ain, Lyoo In Kyoon, Kim Seog Ju, Hwang Jaeuk, Bae Soojeong C, Sung Young Hoon, Sim Minyoung E, Song In Chan, Kim Jihyun, Chang Kee Hyun, Renshaw Perry F
Interdisciplinary Program in Brain Science, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2007 Dec;10(6):765-75. doi: 10.1017/S1461145706007395. Epub 2006 Dec 6.
This study explored differences in frontal white-matter (WM) integrity between methamphetamine (MA) abusers and healthy comparison subjects using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Fractional anisotropy (FA) values, which indicate WM integrity, were calculated for regions-of-interest in frontal WM on diffusion tensor images of 32 MA abusers and 30 healthy comparison subjects. Frontal executive functions were also assessed by the Wisconsin Card Sorting test (WCST). MA abusers had significantly lower FA values in bilateral frontal WM at the anterior commissure-posterior commissure (AC-PC) plane and the right frontal WM 5 mm above the AC-PC plane relative to healthy comparison subjects. MA abusers had more total, perseveration and non-perseveration errors in the WCST relative to healthy comparison subjects. FA values of the right frontal WM 5 mm above the AC-PC plane negatively correlated with the number of total and non-perseveration errors in the WCST in MA abusers. In the sub-analysis for gender differences, lower FA values in frontal WM and more errors in the WCST were found only in male MA abusers, not in female MA abusers, relative to comparison subjects of the respective gender. We report that frontal WM integrity of MA abusers is compromised. This finding may also be related to impairment in frontal executive function. In addition, the neurotoxic effect of MA on frontal WM may be less prominent in women than in men, possibly due to oestrogen's neuroprotective effect.
本研究采用扩散张量成像(DTI)探讨甲基苯丙胺(MA)滥用者与健康对照者之间额叶白质(WM)完整性的差异。在32名MA滥用者和30名健康对照者的扩散张量图像上,计算额叶WM感兴趣区域的分数各向异性(FA)值,FA值可反映WM完整性。还通过威斯康星卡片分类测试(WCST)评估额叶执行功能。与健康对照者相比,MA滥用者在前连合-后连合(AC-PC)平面的双侧额叶WM以及AC-PC平面上方5mm处的右侧额叶WM中FA值显著更低。与健康对照者相比,MA滥用者在WCST中出现的总错误、持续性错误和非持续性错误更多。在MA滥用者中,AC-PC平面上方5mm处右侧额叶WM的FA值与WCST中的总错误数和非持续性错误数呈负相关。在性别差异的亚分析中,相对于各自性别的对照者,仅在男性MA滥用者中发现额叶WM的FA值更低且WCST中的错误更多,而在女性MA滥用者中未发现。我们报告MA滥用者的额叶WM完整性受损。这一发现也可能与额叶执行功能受损有关。此外,MA对额叶WM的神经毒性作用在女性中可能不如在男性中明显,这可能是由于雌激素的神经保护作用。