Fu Li Li, Chen Hui Juan, Huang Wei Yuan, Guo Yi Hao, Liu Li Ting, Fu Qing Qing, Qin Hao Dong, Liu Tao, Chen Feng
Department of Radiology, Hainan General Hospital (Hainan Afliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University), Haikou, Hainan, China.
MR Research Collaboration, Siemens Healthineers, Guangzhou, China.
Ther Adv Psychopharmacol. 2024 Dec 6;14:20451253241304219. doi: 10.1177/20451253241304219. eCollection 2024.
Altered cerebral cortex's structural organization has been found in individuals with betel quid dependence (BQD). However, the neurological underpinnings of the BQD-related abnormalities in cortical thickness and brain circuitry deficit are largely unknown.
This study aimed to investigate potential abnormalities of brain circuitry in the cortical thickness of BQD individuals by applying the surface-based morphometry (SBM) method.
Cross-sectional study.
High spatial resolution, three-dimensional T1-weighted structural imaging data were collected from 53 individuals with BQD and 37 healthy controls (HCs) who were similar to the BQD group in terms of age, sex, and educational level. The SBM method was applied to analyze the cortical thickness alterations in BQD-related areas. Independent-samples -test was used to assess the cortical thickness difference between the two groups. Pearson correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation between cortical thickness changes and clinical characteristics, including BQD scale scores and duration of BQD.
The BQD group had a higher cortical thickness than the HC group at the lateral orbitofrontal ( = 4.703, = 0.0028) and pars opercularis ( = 3.602, = 0.0403) clusters in the right cerebral hemisphere, with age, sex, and education duration as covariates ( < 0.05, Monte Carlo). There were no significant differences in age, sex, or education duration-adjusted cortical thickness of the left cerebral hemisphere between BQD chewers and HCs ( 0.05, Monte Carlo). Correlation analysis revealed that the cortical thickness of the right pars opercularis was negatively correlated with the BQD duration ( = -0.274, = 0.047). The cortical thickness of the right lateral orbitofrontal cluster was not significantly correlated with Betel Quid Dependence Scale (BQDS) or BQD duration ( > 0.05).
This study demonstrated that BQD might be associated with changes in the orbitofrontal and pars opercularis cortical thickness, which may be related to the neurobiological basis of BQD.
在槟榔依赖个体中发现大脑皮质结构组织发生改变。然而，与槟榔依赖相关的皮质厚度异常和脑回路缺陷的神经学基础在很大程度上尚不清楚。
本研究旨在通过应用基于表面的形态测量法（SBM）来研究槟榔依赖个体皮质厚度中脑回路的潜在异常。
横断面研究。
收集了53名槟榔依赖个体和37名健康对照者（HCs）的高空间分辨率三维T1加权结构成像数据，这些健康对照者在年龄、性别和教育水平方面与槟榔依赖组相似。应用SBM方法分析槟榔依赖相关区域的皮质厚度变化。采用独立样本t检验评估两组之间的皮质厚度差异。采用Pearson相关分析研究皮质厚度变化与临床特征之间的相关性，包括槟榔依赖量表评分和槟榔依赖持续时间。
在以年龄、性别和受教育年限作为协变量的情况下（P<0.05，蒙特卡洛法），槟榔依赖组右侧大脑半球外侧眶额部（t = 4.703，P = 0.0028）和岛盖部（t = 3.602，P = 0.0403）脑区的皮质厚度高于健康对照组。槟榔依赖咀嚼者和健康对照者左脑半球在年龄、性别或教育年限调整后的皮质厚度无显著差异（P>0.05，蒙特卡洛法）。相关分析显示，右侧岛盖部的皮质厚度与槟榔依赖持续时间呈负相关（r = -0.274，P = 0.047）。右侧外侧眶额部脑区的皮质厚度与槟榔依赖量表（BQDS）或槟榔依赖持续时间无显著相关性（P>0.05）。
本研究表明，槟榔依赖可能与眶额部和岛盖部皮质厚度变化有关，这可能与槟榔依赖的神经生物学基础有关。
