Magnetic Resonance Volumetry of brain gray matter in crack users
Name: Elton Francisco Pavan Batista
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 24/11/2017
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Ester Miyuki Nakamura Palacios | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Ester Miyuki Nakamura Palacios | Advisor * |
| Felipe Torres Pacheco | External Examiner * |
| Marcos Rosa Júnior | Internal Examiner * |
Summary: Purpose: Drug addiction has been associated with structural changes in brain, notably in prefrontal region. Crack-cocaine use has been of a great health and social concern affecting the youth in our country, but its use has been growing worldwide. Therefore, a better understanding of its biological consequences is urgently needed, asserting if there are cortical and subcortical volumetric changes in crack cocaine users, in relation to healthy control subjects.
Methods: This was an exploratory volumetric study of segmented brain structures comparing crack-cocaine users and healthy controls. Cortical and subcortical segmentation and corrections of images from eight young (mean 30.3 ± 8.2 SD years), socially disadvantaged, male inpatients crack cocaine users with at least 4 weeks of abstinence and from eight non-users age- and gender-matched healthy controls were performed using FreeSurfer.
Results: Volumes from left and right (p < 0.05) rostral and left caudal (p < 0.01) middle frontal, and also from left nucleus accumbens (p < 0.05) of crack-cocaine users were smaller, when compared to non-users. Daily use (rocks/day) was predicted by changes on volume of the right accumbens (p < 0.05), years of use by changes of right pallidum (p < 0.01) and left pars orbitalis (p < 0.05), and use in life (rocks over years of use) by changes of right parahipoccampal (p < 0.01) and left frontal pole (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: Volumetric reductions in young male crack-cocaine users were found in areas comprehending the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a crucial region for adequate executive control, and nucleus accumbens, a core structure in brain reward system. Cortical and subcortical areas predicting patterns of crack-cocaine use are those involved in the establishment or maintenance of drug addiction and also in social, cognitive and behavioral consequences of crack-cocaine use.
Key indexing terms: Crack-cocaine, Prefrontal Cortex, Temporal cortex, Gray Matter, Volumetry, Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
