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M agnetic resonance imaging structural alterations in brain of alcohol abusers and its association with impulsivity
Author(s) -
Asensio Samuel,
Morales Julia L.,
Senabre Isabel,
Romero Maria J.,
Beltran Miguel A.,
FloresBellver Miguel,
Barcia Jorge M.,
Romero Francisco J.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
addiction biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.445
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1369-1600
pISSN - 1355-6215
DOI - 10.1111/adb.12257
Subject(s) - impulsivity , orbitofrontal cortex , psychology , prefrontal cortex , white matter , grey matter , ventral striatum , barratt impulsiveness scale , alcohol use disorder , clinical psychology , psychiatry , neuroscience , alcohol , magnetic resonance imaging , medicine , striatum , dopamine , cognition , biology , biochemistry , radiology
Despite the suggestion that impulsivity plays a central role in the transfer from a recreational drug use to a substance use disorder, very few studies focused on neurobiological markers for addiction. This study aimed to identify volumetric alterations in a sample of patients with mild alcohol use disorder with a short history of alcohol use, compared with a control group, and also focused on its association with impulsivity levels. Most magnetic resonance imaging studies have focused on severe alcohol use disorder, formerly called alcohol‐dependent patients, showing alcohol‐related structural alterations and their association with alcohol use history variables but not with personality parameters like impulsivity. Our hypothesis is that our group of alcohol users may already display structural alterations especially in brain regions related to inhibitory control like medial‐prefrontal regions, and that those structural alterations could be more associated to personality traits like impulsivity than to drug use variables. Our results clearly demonstrate that our population showed lower regional grey and white matter volumes in the medial‐prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices, as well as higher regional white matter volume in the ventral striatum and the internal capsule. Volumetric alterations were associated to the B arratt's impulsivity score: the more impulsive the subjects, the lower the medial‐prefrontal cortex grey matter volume.