Cannabis Use Is Quantitatively Associated with Nucleus Accumbens and Amygdala Abnormalities in Young Adult Recreational Users
Cannabis Use Is Quantitatively Associated with Nucleus Accumbens and Amygdala Abnormalities in Young Adult Recreational Users
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DOI：
10.1523/jneurosci.4745-13.2014
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发表时间：
2014-04-16
影响因子：
5.3
通讯作者：
Breiter, Hans C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Gilman, Jodi M.;Kuster, John K.;Breiter, Hans C.
大麻是美国最常用的非法药物，但人们对它对人脑的影响知之甚少，特别是对与成瘾有关的奖赏/厌恶区域，如杏仁核和杏仁核。动物研究显示，暴露于Delta 9-四氢大麻酚后，大脑区域（如脑髓核）发生了结构变化，但对人类这些区域的大麻使用和大脑形态学知之甚少。我们收集了年轻成人娱乐性大麻使用者和非使用对照组的高分辨率MRI扫描，并对这些结构进行了三项独立的形态测量学分析：（1）使用基于体素的形态测量学的灰质密度，（2）体积（总脑和区域体积）和（3）形状（表面形态测量）。灰质密度分析显示，即使在控制了年龄、性别、饮酒和吸烟等因素后，大麻使用者的灰质密度仍高于对照组，其左侧丘脑底核延伸至胼胝体下皮质、下丘脑、豆状核下延伸杏仁核和左侧杏仁核。趋势水平的影响，观察到的体积增加，仅在左侧丘脑核。左侧丘脑腹外侧核和右侧杏仁核的形状差异显著。左丘脑核在所有三项测量中均显示出显著的依赖性改变，并且在大麻组中的测量中存在改变的多模态关系。这些数据表明，大麻的暴露，即使在年轻的娱乐用户，是与依赖于神经基质的核心奖励结构的改变，是一致的树突状树枝化的变化与动物研究。
Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States, but little is known about its effects on the human brain, particularly on reward/aversion regions implicated in addiction, such as the nucleus accumbens and amygdala. Animal studies show structural changes in brain regions such as the nucleus accumbens after exposure to Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol, but less is known about cannabis use and brain morphometry in these regions in humans. We collected high-resolution MRI scans on young adult recreational marijuana users and nonusing controls and conducted three independent analyses of morphometry in these structures: (1) gray matter density using voxel-based morphometry, (2) volume (total brain and regional volumes), and (3) shape (surface morphometry). Gray matter density analyses revealed greater gray matter density in marijuana users than in control participants in the left nucleus accumbens extending to subcallosal cortex, hypothalamus, sublenticular extended amygdala, and left amygdala, even after controlling for age, sex, alcohol use, and cigarette smoking. Trend-level effects were observed for a volume increase in the left nucleus accumbens only. Significant shape differences were detected in the left nucleus accumbens and right amygdala. The left nucleus accumbens showed salient exposure-dependent alterations across all three measures and an altered multimodal relationship across measures in the marijuana group. These data suggest that marijuana exposure, even in young recreational users, is associated with exposure-dependent alterations of the neural matrix of core reward structures and is consistent with animal studies of changes in dendritic arborization.