Correlation between diffusion tensor imaging characteristics of brain white matter and mental symptoms in methamphetamine addiction / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the changes of brain white matter microstructures in patients with methamphetamine addiction and to analyze the correlation between the changes of brain white matter microstructures and mental symptoms. Methods Twenty-five methamphetamine addictions (MA) and twenty-five healthy controls (HC) were enrolled through community and treatment centres from 2015 to 2016. The data of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were obtained on 3.0 T MRI scanner. All the subjects′mental symptoms were assessed by symptom check list-90 (SCL-90). The fractional anisotropy (FA) was compared by the tract based spatial statistic (TBSS). For the comparison of the value of AD, the value of RD and clinical data between two groups, the normal distribution and homogeneity test of variance were carried out first. If the normal distribution and homogeneity of variance were satisfied, the two-sample t test was used, if not, the Mann-Whitney rank sum test was used. The correlation between FA, RD and AD values in white matter differential brain areas and methamphetamine dosage, time and psychosocial scale were analyzed by spearman test. Results SCL-90 scores in group MA were significantly higher than those in HC (P<0.05). Compared with HC group, FA value of right genu of corpus callosum in MA group decreased, and the value of RD value increased significantly (P<0.05). The AD value also decreased in MA group, but there was no significant difference between two groups(P>0.05). There was a positive correlation between FA value of white matter of differential brain area and hostility score in SCL-90 (r=0.450, P=0.024), and a negative correlation between RD value and hostility and paranoid scores (hostilityr=-0.590, P=0.002;paranoidr=-0.438, P=0.028). Conclusion MA can damage the integrity of the synaptic fibers connecting the frontal lobe of the brain, which is related to multiple mental scores. It suggests that decreased white matter integrity may be one of the neurological mechanisms of mental disorders related to methamphetamine addiction.