Yuncu Zeki, Zorlu Nabi, Saatcioglu Hozan, Basay Burge, Basay Omer, Zorlu Pelin Kurtgoz, Kitis Omer, Gelal Fazil
Department of Child Psychiatry, Ege University School of Medicine, Izmir 35040, Turkey.
Department of Psychiatry, Katip Celebi University Ataturk Training and Research Hospital, Izmir 35360, Turkey.
Neurotoxicol Teratol. 2015 Jan-Feb;47:89-95. doi: 10.1016/j.ntt.2014.11.009. Epub 2014 Dec 3.
Inhalant abuse represents a major health problem especially among adolescents and young adults. However, less is known about white matter (WM) microstructure in adolescent inhalant abusers. In the present study, we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to study WM changes in adolescent inhalant abusers compared with healthy controls. We also tested whether there was any relationship between WM integrity and neuropsychological measures in adolescent inhalant abusers. The study included 19 adolescent inhalant abusers and 19 healthy control subjects. Whole brain analysis of WM microstructure was performed using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) to detect abnormal WM regions between groups. Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) and Stroop test were used to measure neuropsychological performance. We found that adolescent inhalant abuser group had significantly higher axial diffusivity (AD) values in left parietal, occipital and temporal WM than in healthy control group. Inhalant abuser and control groups did not differ significantly on fractional anisotropy (FA) and radial diffusivity (RD) values. Adolescent inhalant abusers showed worse performance when compared with control group in WCST and Stroop test. There was no significant correlation of AD values in significant clusters with neuropsychological test performances within the two groups. We only found discrete impairments in neuropsychological test performance and WM integrity in adolescent inhalant abusers compared with healthy control subjects and we were not able to demonstrate a direct correlation between WM alterations and neurocognitive performance. Future work is required to longitudinally evaluate brain abnormalities through methods assessing brain structure, function and connectivity.
吸入剂滥用是一个主要的健康问题，尤其是在青少年和青年人群中。然而，对于青少年吸入剂滥用者的白质（WM）微观结构了解较少。在本研究中，我们使用扩散张量成像（DTI）来研究青少年吸入剂滥用者与健康对照组相比的白质变化。我们还测试了青少年吸入剂滥用者的白质完整性与神经心理学测量之间是否存在任何关系。该研究包括19名青少年吸入剂滥用者和19名健康对照受试者。使用基于束的空间统计学（TBSS）对白质微观结构进行全脑分析，以检测两组之间的异常白质区域。采用威斯康星卡片分类测验（WCST）和斯特鲁普测验来测量神经心理学表现。我们发现，青少年吸入剂滥用者组左侧顶叶、枕叶和颞叶白质的轴向扩散率（AD）值显著高于健康对照组。吸入剂滥用者组和对照组在分数各向异性（FA）和径向扩散率（RD）值上无显著差异。与对照组相比，青少年吸入剂滥用者在WCST和斯特鲁普测验中的表现更差。两组中显著簇中的AD值与神经心理学测试表现之间无显著相关性。与健康对照受试者相比，我们仅在青少年吸入剂滥用者中发现神经心理学测试表现和白质完整性存在离散损伤，并且我们无法证明白质改变与神经认知表现之间存在直接相关性。未来需要通过评估脑结构、功能和连通性的方法对脑异常进行纵向评估。
