Cheetham Ali, Allen Nicholas B, Whittle Sarah, Simmons Julian, Yücel Murat, Lubman Dan I
Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2014 Apr;231(8):1731-42. doi: 10.1007/s00213-014-3483-8. Epub 2014 Feb 20.
Individual differences in brain structure and function are suggested to exist prior to the onset of alcohol abuse. Cross-sectional studies have demonstrated abnormalities in brain regions underlying affective processes that may form a pathway to the emergence of later alcohol abuse and dependence in vulnerable individuals. However, no prospective studies have examined whether these abnormalities predict later problems with alcohol.
This study aims to examine whether individual differences in affect and brain volume prospectively predict alcohol-related problems in adolescence.
Adolescent drinkers (n = 98) were recruited from an ongoing prospective, longitudinal study examining adolescent emotional development. At age 12, participants underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging to obtain volumetric data on the amygdala, hippocampus, orbitofrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and completed a self-report measure of affective temperament. At age 16, participants completed a questionnaire measuring alcohol use, with 39 % reporting alcohol-related problems in the past year.
Pre-existing differences in the left ACC predicted problem drinking. Alcohol-related problems were associated with higher levels of temperamental negative affectivity; however, these were not correlated with anterior cingulate volumes.
These findings indicate that individual differences in the structural morphology of the anterior cingulate, a region implicated in affective processes, self-control, and drug addiction, predict later alcohol-related problems. Although this finding remained significant after controlling for other substance use and psychopathology, future research is required to test its specificity for alcohol use disorders.
大脑结构和功能的个体差异被认为在酒精滥用开始之前就已存在。横断面研究已经证明，情感过程所涉及的脑区存在异常，这可能为易患个体日后出现酒精滥用和依赖形成一条途径。然而，尚无前瞻性研究考察这些异常是否能预测日后的酒精问题。
本研究旨在考察情感和脑容量的个体差异是否能前瞻性地预测青少年期与酒精相关的问题。
从一项正在进行的关于青少年情绪发展的前瞻性纵向研究中招募青少年饮酒者（n = 98）。在12岁时，参与者接受结构磁共振成像，以获取杏仁核、海马体、眶额皮质和前扣带回皮质（ACC）的体积数据，并完成一份情感气质的自我报告测量。在16岁时，参与者完成一份测量酒精使用情况的问卷，39%的人报告在过去一年中有与酒精相关的问题。
左侧前扣带回先前存在的差异可预测问题饮酒。与酒精相关的问题与气质性消极情感水平较高有关；然而，这些与前扣带回体积并无关联。
这些发现表明，前扣带回的结构形态存在个体差异，该区域与情感过程、自我控制和药物成瘾有关，可预测日后与酒精相关的问题。尽管在控制了其他物质使用和精神病理学因素后这一发现仍然显著，但仍需要未来的研究来检验其对酒精使用障碍的特异性。
