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Widespread Effects of Alcohol on White Matter Microstructure
Author(s) -
Fortier Catherine B.,
Leritz Elizabeth C.,
Salat David H.,
Lindemer Emily,
Maksimovskiy Arkadiy L.,
Shepel Juli,
Williams Victoria,
Venne Jonathan R.,
Milberg William P.,
McGlinchey Regina E.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/acer.12568
Subject(s) - sobriety , fractional anisotropy , white matter , psychology , abstinence , inferior parietal lobule , diffusion mri , middle frontal gyrus , neuroscience , audiology , functional magnetic resonance imaging , medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , psychiatry , radiology
Background Evidence suggests that chronic misuse of alcohol may preferentially affect the integrity of frontal white matter ( WM ) tracts, which can impact executive functions important to achieve and maintain abstinence. Methods Global and regional WM microstructure was assessed using diffusion magnetic resonance measures of fractional anisotropy ( FA ) for 31 abstinent alcoholics (ALC) with an average of 25 years of abuse and approximately 5 years of sobriety and 20 nonalcoholic control ( NC ) participants. Data processing was conducted with FreeSurfer and FSL processing streams. Voxelwise processing of the FA data was carried out using tract‐based spatial statistics. Clusters of significance were created to provide a quantitative summary of highly significant regions within the voxelwise analysis. Results Widespread, bilateral reductions in FA were observed in ALC as compared to NC participants in multiple frontal, temporal, parietal, and cerebellar WM tracts. FA in the left inferior frontal gyrus was associated with drinking severity. Conclusions This study found widespread reductions in WM integrity in a group of ALC compared to NC participants, with most pronounced effects in frontal and superior tracts. Decreased FA throughout the frontostriatal circuits that mediate inhibitory control may result in impulsive behavior and inability to maintain sobriety.