Abstract
An increasing body of experimental data have suggested that aberrant functional interactions between large-scale networks may be the most plausible explanation of psychopathology across multiple mental disorders, including substance-related and addictive disorders. In the current research, we have investigated the association between problematic cannabis use (PCU) and triple-network electroencephalographic (EEG) functional connectivity. Twelve participants with PCU and 24 non-PCU participants were included in the study. EEG recordings were performed during resting state (RS). The exact Low-Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography software (eLORETA) was used for all EEG analyses. Compared to non-PCU, PCU participants showed an increased delta connectivity between the salience network (SN) and central executive network (CEN), specifically, between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and right posterior parietal cortex. The strength of delta connectivity between the SN and CEN was positively and significantly correlated with higher problematic patterns of cannabis use after controlling for age, sex, educational level, tobacco use, problematic alcohol use, and general psychopathology (rp = 0.40, p = 0.030). Taken together, our results show that individuals with PCU could be characterized by a specific dysfunctional interaction between the SN and CEN during RS, which might reflect the neurophysiological underpinnings of attentional and emotional processes of cannabis-related thoughts, memories, and craving.
Highlights
Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in Europe, with 18% and 9.3% of young people reporting having used cannabis in the last year and in the last month, respectively [1]
A recent meta-analysis [3] on 35 task-related functional imaging studies showed that cannabis use is associated with a decreased activity in brain areas involved in cognitive control process (e.g., the anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and increased activity in brain structures involved in reward processing
No significant differences were observed for socio-demographic data or for general psychopathology, even though, compared to non-problematic cannabis use (PCU), PCU
Summary
Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in Europe, with 18% and 9.3% of young people (i.e., the 15–24 age group) reporting having used cannabis in the last year and in the last month, respectively [1]. Human neuroimaging studies have shown that problematic cannabis use is related to different structural, functional, and neurophysiological brain alterations [7]. Structural neuroimaging studies showed abnormalities in hippocampus volume and gray matter density associated with cannabis use [8]. A recent meta-analysis [3] on 35 task-related functional imaging studies showed that cannabis use is associated with a decreased activity in brain areas involved in cognitive control process (e.g., the anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC)) and increased activity in brain structures involved in reward processing (e.g., the striatum). Electroencephalographic (EEG) studies showed that cannabis use is related to several neurophysiological abnormalities, such as increased cortical activation and connectivity, during drug cue exposure [10,11,12] and during resting state (RS) condition [13,14,15]
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