Altered Brain Functional Connectivity in Betel Quid-Dependent Chewers.

Xiaojun Huang,Zhimin Xue,Serdar M Dursun,Andrew J Greenshaw,Haihong Liu,Xinmin Li,Weidan Pu,Zhening Liu

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00239

Abstract

Betel quid (BQ) is a common psychoactive substance worldwide with particularly high usage in many Asian countries. This study aimed to explore the effect of BQ use on functional connectivity by comparing global functional brain networks and their subset between BQ chewers and healthy controls (HCs). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was obtained from 24 betel quid-dependent (BQD) male chewers and 27 healthy male individuals on a 3.0T scanner. We used independent component analysis (ICA) to determine components that represent the brain's functional networks and their spatial aspects of functional connectivity. Two sample t-tests were used to identify the functional connectivity differences in each network between these two groups. Seventeen networks were identified by ICA. Nine of them showed connectivity differences between BQD and HCs (two sample t-tests, p < 0.001 uncorrected). We found increased functional connectivity in the orbitofrontal, bilateral frontoparietal, frontotemporal, occipital/parietal, frontotemporal/cerebellum, and temporal/limbic networks, and decreased connectivity in the parietal and medial frontal/anterior cingulate networks in the BQD compared to the HCs. The betel quid dependence scale scores were positively related to the increased functional connectivity in the orbitofrontal (r = 0.39, p = 0.03) while negatively related to the decreased functional connectivity in medial frontal/anterior cingulate networks (r = -0.35, p = 0.02). Our findings provide further evidence that BQ chewing may lead to brain functional connectivity changes, which may play a key role in the psychological and physiological effects of BQ.

Highlights

Betel quid (BQ) is one of the most widely used psychoactive substances worldwide, with approximately 600 million consumers mostly located in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the islands of the Pacific [1]
There was a difference in years of education between the BQ dependence (BQD) and healthy controls (HCs) groups; age and years of education were examined as covariates in our resting-state imaging analysis
The current study used independent component analysis (ICA) to identify which brain networks were affected and how functional connectivity was changed by chronic BQ chewing

Summary

Introduction

Betel quid (BQ) is one of the most widely used psychoactive substances worldwide, with approximately 600 million consumers mostly located in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the islands of the Pacific [1]. Arecaidine, arecoline, guvacine, and guvacoline are the four main alkaloids in betel nut [2]. When BQ is chewed, a host of harmful chemicals contribute to deleterious effects [8]. Mounting scientific evidence indicates a possible causal association between longterm BQ use and oral squamous cell carcinoma, complications of pregnancy, systemic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, as well as a wide range of other adverse health effects [9,10,11]. Betel quid (BQ) is a common psychoactive substance worldwide with high usage in many Asian countries. This study aimed to explore the effect of BQ use on functional connectivity by comparing global functional brain networks and their subset between BQ chewers and healthy controls (HCs)

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