Zou Yukai, Murray Donna E, Durazzo Timothy C, Schmidt Thomas P, Murray Troy A, Meyerhoff Dieter J
Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906, United States; College of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906, United States.
Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, United States; Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIND), San Francisco VA Medical Center, San Francisco, CA 94121, United States.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2017 Jun 1;175:42-50. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.01.032. Epub 2017 Mar 19.
We previously reported widespread microstructural deficits of brain white matter in alcohol-dependent individuals (ALC) compared to light drinkers in a small 1.5T diffusion tensor imaging study employing tract-based spatial statistics. Using a larger dataset acquired at 4T, the present study is an extension that investigated the effects of alcohol consumption, abstinence from alcohol, and comorbid cigarette smoking on white matter microstructure.
Tract-based spatial statistics were performed on 20 1-week-abstinent ALC, 52 1-month-abstinent ALC, and 30 controls. Regional measures of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) in the significant clusters were compared by Analysis of Covariance. The metrics were correlated with substance use history and behavioral measures.
1-week-abstinent ALC showed lower FA than controls in the corpus callosum, right cingulum, external capsule, and hippocampus. At 1 month of abstinence, only the FA in the body of the corpus callosum of ALC remained significantly different from controls. Some regional FA deficits correlated with more severe measures of drinking and smoking histories but only weakly with mood and impulsivity measures.
White matter microstructure is abnormal during early abstinence in alcohol dependent treatment seekers and recovers into the normal range within about four weeks. The compromised white matter was related to substance use severity, mood, and impulsivity. Our findings suggest that ALC may benefit from interventions that facilitate normalization of DTI metrics to maintain abstinence, via smoking cessation, cognitive-based therapy, and perhaps pharmacology to support remyelination.
在一项使用基于体素的空间统计学的小型1.5T扩散张量成像研究中，我们先前报告称，与轻度饮酒者相比，酒精依赖个体（ALC）存在广泛的脑白质微结构缺陷。本研究使用在4T下获取的更大数据集，是一项扩展研究，调查了饮酒、戒酒以及合并吸烟对白质微结构的影响。
对20名戒酒1周的ALC、52名戒酒1个月的ALC和30名对照组进行基于体素的空间统计学分析。通过协方差分析比较显著簇中的分数各向异性（FA）和平均扩散率（MD）的区域测量值。这些指标与物质使用史和行为测量值相关。
戒酒1周的ALC在胼胝体、右侧扣带束、外囊和海马体中的FA低于对照组。在戒酒1个月时，只有ALC胼胝体体部的FA与对照组仍有显著差异。一些区域FA缺陷与更严重的饮酒和吸烟史测量值相关，但与情绪和冲动性测量值的相关性较弱。
寻求酒精依赖治疗的个体在早期戒酒期间白质微结构异常，约四周内恢复到正常范围。受损的白质与物质使用严重程度、情绪和冲动性有关。我们的研究结果表明，ALC可能受益于促进DTI指标正常化以维持戒酒的干预措施，包括戒烟、基于认知的治疗，或许还包括支持髓鞘再生的药物治疗。
