VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, United States of America.
Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Aug 10;15(8):e0236641. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236641. eCollection 2020.
Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) has been associated with abnormalities in hippocampal volumes, but these relationships have not been fully explored with respect to sub-regional volumes, nor in association with individual characteristics such as age, gender differences, drinking history, and memory. The present study examined the impact of those variables in relation to hippocampal subfield volumes in abstinent men and women with a history of AUD. Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging at 3 Tesla, we obtained brain images from 67 participants with AUD (31 women) and 64 nonalcoholic control (NC) participants (31 women). The average duration of the most recent period of sobriety for AUD participants was 7.1 years. We used Freesurfer 6.0 to segment the hippocampus into 12 regions. These were imputed into statistical models to examine the relationships of brain volume with AUD group, age, gender, memory, and drinking history. Interactions with gender and age were of particular interest. Compared to the NC group, the AUD group had approximately 5% smaller subiculum, CA1, molecular layer, and hippocampal tail regions. Age was negatively associated with volumes for the AUD group in the subiculum and the hippocampal tail, but no significant interactions with gender were identified. The relationships for delayed and immediate memory with hippocampal tail volume differed for AUD and NC groups: Higher scores on tests of immediate and delayed memory were associated with smaller volumes in the AUD group, but larger volumes in the NC group. Length of sobriety was associated with decreasing CA1 volume in women (0.19% per year) and increasing volume size in men (0.38% per year). The course of abstinence on CA1 volume differed for men and women, and the differential relationships of subfield volumes to age and memory could indicate a distinction in the impact of AUD on functions of the hippocampal tail. These findings confirm and extend evidence that AUD, age, gender, memory, and abstinence differentially impact volumes of component parts of the hippocampus.
酒精使用障碍（AUD）与海马体体积异常有关，但尚未充分探讨这些关系与亚区体积的关系，也未探讨与年龄、性别差异、饮酒史和记忆等个体特征的关系。本研究检查了这些变量对有 AUD 病史的男性和女性戒酒后海马亚区体积的影响。使用 3 Tesla 磁共振成像，我们从 67 名 AUD 患者（31 名女性）和 64 名非酒精性对照（NC）参与者（31 名女性）中获得了大脑图像。AUD 参与者最近一次戒酒的平均时间为 7.1 年。我们使用 Freesurfer 6.0 将海马体分割成 12 个区域。将这些区域代入统计模型，以检查大脑体积与 AUD 组、年龄、性别、记忆和饮酒史的关系。性别和年龄的相互作用特别有趣。与 NC 组相比，AUD 组的 subiculum、CA1、分子层和海马尾部区域体积小约 5%。年龄与 AUD 组的 subiculum 和海马尾部体积呈负相关，但未发现与性别有显著相互作用。延迟和即时记忆与海马尾部体积的关系在 AUD 和 NC 组中有所不同：即时和延迟记忆测试的得分越高，AUD 组的海马尾部体积越小，但 NC 组的海马尾部体积越大。戒酒时间与女性 CA1 体积减少（每年 0.19%）和男性 CA1 体积增加（每年 0.38%）有关。CA1 体积的戒酒过程在男性和女性中有所不同，亚区体积与年龄和记忆的差异关系可能表明 AUD 对海马尾部功能的影响存在区别。这些发现证实并扩展了 AUD、年龄、性别、记忆和戒酒对海马体各组成部分体积的影响不同的证据。
