Cerebral gray matter volumes and low-frequency fluctuation of BOLD signals in cocaine dependence: duration of use and gender difference

Abstract

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging has provided a wealth of information on altered brain activations and structures in individuals addicted to cocaine. However, few studies have considered the influence of age and alcohol use on these changes.

Methods: We examined gray matter volume with voxel based morphometry (VBM) and low frequency fluctuation (LFF) of BOLD signals as a measure of cerebral activity of 84 cocaine dependent (CD) and 86 healthy control (HC) subjects. We performed a covariance analysis to account for the effects of age and years of alcohol use.

Results: Compared to HC, CD individuals showed decreased gray matter (GM) volumes in frontal and temporal cortices, middle/posterior cingulate cortex, and the cerebellum, at p<0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons. The GM volume of the bilateral superior frontal gyri (SFG) and cingulate cortices were negatively correlated with years of cocaine use, with women showing a steeper loss in the right SFG in association with duration of use. In contrast, the right ventral putamen showed increased GM volume in CD as compared to HC individuals. Compared to HC, CD individuals showed increased fractional amplitude of LFF (fALFF) in the thalamus, with no significant overlap with regions showing GM volume loss.

Conclusions: These results suggested that chronic cocaine use is associated with distinct changes in cerebral structure and activity that can be captured by GM volume and fALFF of BOLD signals.

Keywords: Cerebral morphometry; Gender difference; Low-frequency fluctuation; Prefrontal; Stimulant; Thalamus.