Abstract
Methamphetamine (MA) use affects the brain structure and function. However, no studies have investigated the relationship between changes in regional homogeneity (ReHo) and impulsivity in MA dependent individuals (MADs). The aim of this study was to investigate the changes of brain activity under resting state in MADs and their relationship to impulsivity using ReHo method. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed to collect data from 46 MADs and 44 healthy controls (HCs) under resting state. ReHo method was used to investigate the differences in average ReHo values between the two groups. The ReHo values abnormalities of the brain regions found in inter-group comparisons were extracted and correlated with impulsivity. Compared to the HCs, MADs showed significant increased ReHo values in the bilateral striatum, while the ReHo values of the bilateral precentral gyrus and the bilateral postcentral gyrus decreased significantly. The ReHo values of the left precentral gyrus were negatively correlated with the BIS-attention, BIS-motor, and BIS-nonplanning subscale scores, while the ReHo values of the postcentral gyrus were only negatively correlated with the BIS-motor subscale scores in MADs. The abnormal spontaneous brain activity in the resting state of MADs revealed in this study may further improve our understanding of the neuro-matrix of MADs impulse control dysfunction and may help us to explore the neuropathological mechanism of MADs related dysfunction and rehabilitation.
Highlights
Methamphetamine (MA), commonly known as “ice,” is an amphetamine-type stimulant (ATS) that is one of the most abused new drugs in the world (Shadloo et al, 2017)
Higher left precentral gyrus regional homogeneity (ReHo) values in the MA dependent individuals (MADs) group was associated with lower BIS-nonplanning scores, it only approached significance (B = −5.35, p = 0.061)
There was a Group × ReHo interaction where higher left precentral gyrus ReHo values in the MAD group was associated with lower BIS-motor scores (B = −6.75, p = 0.034)
Summary
Methamphetamine (MA), commonly known as “ice,” is an amphetamine-type stimulant (ATS) that is one of the most abused new drugs in the world (Shadloo et al, 2017). Many factors contribute to recurrence of MADs, a possible key predictor is impulsivity (Ahn et al, 2016; Vassileva and Conrod, 2019). Impulsivity is defined as a predisposition toward rapid, unplanned reactions to internal or external stimuli with diminished regard to their negative consequences to themselves or others (Ahn et al, 2016; Psederska et al, 2021). It is considered a key etiological factor in current conceptualizations of substance use disorder (SUD). MA dependence is associated with many neuropsychiatric and behavioral problems, impulsivity has been studied extensively because of its purported importance in initiation and escalation of drug use and the probability of recurrence (Schwartz et al, 2010)
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