The Mind Research Network and Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research Institute, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
Departments of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
Neuropsychopharmacology. 2018 Mar;43(4):877-890. doi: 10.1038/npp.2017.280. Epub 2017 Nov 14.
Alcohol, nicotine, and cannabis are among the most commonly used drugs. A prolonged and combined use of these substances can alter normal brain wiring in different ways depending on the consumed cocktail mixture. Brain connectivity alterations and their change with time can be assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) because of its spatial and temporal content. Here, we estimated dynamic functional network connectivity (dFNC) as derived from fMRI data to investigate the effects of single or combined use of alcohol, nicotine, and cannabis. Data from 534 samples were grouped according to their substance use combination as controls (CTR), smokers (SMK), drinkers (DRN), smoking-and-drinking subjects (SAD), marijuana users (MAR), smoking-and-marijuana users (SAM), marijuana-and-drinking users (MAD), and users of all three substances (ALL). The DRN group tends to exhibit decreased connectivity mainly in areas of sensorial and motor control, a result supported by the dFNC outcome and the alcohol use disorder identification test. This trend dominated the SAD group and in a weaker manner MAD and ALL. Nicotine consumers were characterized by an increment of connectivity between dorsal striatum and sensorimotor areas. Where possible, common and separate effects were identified and characterized by the analysis of dFNC data. Results also suggest that a combination of cannabis and nicotine have more contrasting effects on the brain than a single use of any of these substances. On the other hand, marijuana and alcohol might follow an additive effect trend. We concluded that all of the substances have an impact on brain connectivity, but the effect differs depending on the dFNC state analyzed.
酒精、尼古丁和大麻是最常使用的毒品之一。这些物质的长期和联合使用会根据所消耗的鸡尾酒混合物以不同的方式改变正常的大脑连接。脑连接的改变及其随时间的变化可以使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）进行评估，因为它具有空间和时间内容。在这里，我们估计了从 fMRI 数据中得出的动态功能网络连接（dFNC），以研究单独或联合使用酒精、尼古丁和大麻的影响。根据其物质使用组合，将 534 个样本的数据分为对照组（CTR）、吸烟者（SMK）、饮酒者（DRN）、吸烟和饮酒者（SAD）、大麻使用者（MAR）、吸烟和大麻使用者（SAM）、大麻和饮酒者（MAD）以及所有三种物质的使用者（ALL）。DRN 组倾向于表现出连接性降低，主要在感觉和运动控制区域，这一结果得到了 dFNC 结果和酒精使用障碍识别测试的支持。这种趋势在 SAD 组中更为明显，在 MAD 和 ALL 组中则较弱。尼古丁使用者的背侧纹状体和感觉运动区域之间的连接性增加。在可能的情况下，通过分析 dFNC 数据，确定了共同和单独的影响并对其进行了描述。结果还表明，大麻和尼古丁的组合对大脑的影响比单独使用这些物质中的任何一种都更为明显。另一方面，大麻和酒精可能遵循相加效应的趋势。我们得出结论，所有这些物质都对脑连接有影响，但影响因分析的 dFNC 状态而异。
