Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, Bachelor Program in Artificial Intelligence, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Medical Imaging Research Center, Institute for Radiological Research, Chang Gung University and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2021 May;238(5):1387-1399. doi: 10.1007/s00213-021-05819-6. Epub 2021 Mar 27.
Recent studies have demonstrated that cigarette smoking is related to changes in brain structure and function. However, few studies focus on functional brain differences between male chronic smokers and nonsmokers in both local spontaneous activity and whole-brain functional networks.
Our study recruited 67 chronic smokers and 43 nonsmokers who underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans to investigate functional activity and connectivity alterations in chronic smokers.
We used the mean fractional amplitude of the low-frequency fluctuation (mfALFF) and mean regional homogeneity (mReHo) methods to investigate resting-state spontaneous activity in chronic smokers and nonsmokers. The graph theoretical analysis (GTA) and network-based statistical (NBS) analysis were also used to investigate functional connectivity alterations.
Compared with nonsmokers, chronic smokers exhibited higher activation in the reward system and portions of the prefrontal cortex but lower activation in the default mode networks (DMN) and visual-related regions. In addition, correlation analysis was conducted to assess the associations between neuroimaging findings and the severity of nicotine dependence or expectations of smoking effects. Our results showed that certain brain regions correlated with the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), the positive aspect of the Drug Use Disorders Identification Test Extended (DUDIT-E), and the negative aspect of the DUDIT-E, especially in the attentional control networks and hippocampus. The graph theoretical analysis (GTA) results indicated chronic smokers exhibited a trend toward increased assortativity. Our network-based statistical (NBS) analysis revealed reduced functional connections between the subnetwork in the prefrontal cortex, olfactory cortex, angular gyrus, and cingulate gyrus of chronic smokers.
We concluded that chronic smokers have neural adaptations in local spontaneous activity but remain healthy brain functional networks.
最近的研究表明，吸烟与大脑结构和功能的变化有关。然而，很少有研究关注男性慢性吸烟者和不吸烟者之间局部自发性活动和全脑功能网络的功能差异。
本研究招募了 67 名慢性吸烟者和 43 名不吸烟者，他们接受了功能磁共振成像（fMRI）扫描，以研究慢性吸烟者的功能活动和连接变化。
我们使用平均低频波动幅度（mfALFF）和平均区域同质性（mReHo）方法来研究慢性吸烟者和不吸烟者的静息状态自发性活动。还使用了图论分析（GTA）和基于网络的统计（NBS）分析来研究功能连接变化。
与不吸烟者相比，慢性吸烟者在奖励系统和部分前额叶皮层中表现出更高的激活，但在默认模式网络（DMN）和视觉相关区域中表现出更低的激活。此外，还进行了相关性分析，以评估神经影像学发现与尼古丁依赖严重程度或吸烟效果预期之间的关系。我们的结果表明，某些脑区与尼古丁依赖程度测试（FTND）、药物使用障碍识别测试扩展版（DUDIT-E）的积极方面以及 DUDIT-E 的消极方面相关，特别是在注意力控制网络和海马体中。图论分析（GTA）结果表明，慢性吸烟者的聚类系数呈增加趋势。我们的基于网络的统计（NBS）分析显示，慢性吸烟者的前额叶皮层、嗅觉皮层、角回和扣带回子网之间的功能连接减少。
我们得出结论，慢性吸烟者的局部自发性活动存在神经适应性，但大脑功能网络仍保持健康。
