Disrupted topological organization in whole-brain functional networks of heroin-dependent individuals: a resting-state FMRI study

PLoS One. 2013 Dec 17;8(12):e82715. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082715. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Neuroimaging studies have shown that heroin addiction is related to abnormalities in widespread local regions and in the functional connectivity of the brain. However, little is known about whether heroin addiction changes the topological organization of whole-brain functional networks. Seventeen heroin-dependent individuals (HDIs) and 15 age-, gender-matched normal controls (NCs) were enrolled, and the resting-state functional magnetic resonance images (RS-fMRI) were acquired from these subjects. We constructed the brain functional networks of HDIs and NCs, and compared the between-group differences in network topological properties using graph theory method. We found that the HDIs showed decreases in the normalized clustering coefficient and in small-worldness compared to the NCs. Furthermore, the HDIs exhibited significantly decreased nodal centralities primarily in regions of cognitive control network, including the bilateral middle cingulate gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, and right precuneus, but significantly increased nodal centralities primarily in the left hippocampus. The between-group differences in nodal centralities were not corrected by multiple comparisons suggesting these should be considered as an exploratory analysis. Moreover, nodal centralities in the left hippocampus were positively correlated with the duration of heroin addiction. Overall, our results indicated that disruptions occur in the whole-brain functional networks of HDIs, findings which may be helpful in further understanding the mechanisms underlying heroin addiction.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain / pathology*
  • Brain / physiopathology
  • Brain Mapping / methods*
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Female
  • Heroin Dependence / diagnosis
  • Heroin Dependence / pathology
  • Heroin Dependence / physiopathology*
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Nerve Net / physiopathology*
  • Rest
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was partially supported by the Guangdong No. 2 Provincial People's Hospital, the funding of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant numbers: 81071149, 81271548, and 81371535), the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, China (Grant numbers: 2011B031800044 and 2010B031600116), and the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars (RH), State Education Ministry. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.