Effects of Prenatal Methamphetamine Exposure on the Developing Human Brain: A Systematic Review of Neuroimaging Studies.

Hossein Sanjari Moghaddam,Maryam Mobarak Abadi,Fatemeh Abbasi-Feijani,Giulia Cattarinussi,Mohammad Hadi Aarabi,Sasan Bayani Ershadi,Sahar Rezaei,Mahsa Dolatshahi

doi:10.1021/acschemneuro.1c00213

Abstract

Methamphetamine (MA) can cross the placenta in pregnant women and cause placental abruption and developmental alterations in offspring. Previous studies have found prenatal MA exposure effects on the social and cognitive performance of children. Recent studies reported some alterations in structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of prenatal MA-exposed offspring. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of prenatal MA exposure on brain development using recently published structural, metabolic, and functional MRI studies. According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we searched PubMed and SCOPUS databases for articles that used each brain imaging modality in prenatal MA-exposed children. Seventeen studies were included in this study. We investigated brain imaging alterations using 17 articles with four different modalities, including structural MRI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), and functional MRI (fMRI). The participants’ age range was from infancy to 15 years. Our findings demonstrated that prenatal MA exposure is associated with macrostructural, microstructural, metabolic, and functional deficits in both cortical and subcortical areas. However, the most affected regions were the striatum, frontal lobe, thalamus and the limbic system, and white matter (WM) fibers connecting these regions. The findings from our study might have valuable implications for targeted treatment of neurocognitive and behavioral deficits in children with prenatal MA exposure. Even so, our results should be interpreted cautiously due to the heterogeneity of the included studies in terms of study populations and methods of analysis.

Highlights

Methamphetamine (MA), contracted from N-methylamphetamine, is a potent psychostimulant that belongs to the substituted phenethylamine and substituted amphetamine chemical classes, many of which are formed by a phenyl ring connected to an amino group by a two-carbon side chain.[1]
We systematically reviewed macrostructural, microstructural, metabolic, and functional brain abnormalities in children exposed to prenatal MA
Studies have used different magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) modalities and different methods of analysis to investigate the effect of prenatal MA exposure on brain development

Summary

Introduction

Methamphetamine (MA), contracted from N-methylamphetamine, is a potent psychostimulant that belongs to the substituted phenethylamine and substituted amphetamine chemical classes, many of which are formed by a phenyl ring connected to an amino group by a two-carbon side chain.[1].

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