Alterations in white matter microstructure in alcohol and alcohol-polydrug dependence: associations with lifetime alcohol and nicotine exposure
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Evidence suggests that alcohol dependence (AD) is associated with microstructural deficits in white matter, but the relationship with lifetime alcohol exposure and the impact of polydrug dependence is not well understood. Using diffusion tensor magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, we examined white matter microstructure in relation to alcohol and polydrug dependence using data from the Imperial College Cambridge Manchester (ICCAM) platform study. Tract-based spatial statistics were used to examine fractional anisotropy (FA) in a cohort of abstinent AD participants, most of whom had a lifetime history of dependence to nicotine. A further subgroup also had a lifetime history of dependence to cocaine and/or opiates. Individuals with AD had lower FA throughout the corpus callosum, and negative associations with alcohol and nicotine exposure were found. A group-by-age interaction effect was found showing greater reductions with age in the alcohol-dependent group within corpus callosum, overlapping with the group difference. We found no evidence of recovery with abstinence. A comparison of alcohol-only- and alcohol-polydrug-dependent groups found no differences in FA. Overall, our findings show that AD is associated with lower FA and suggest that these alterations are primarily driven by lifetime alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking, showing no relationship with exposure to other substances such as cocaine, opiates or cannabis. Reductions in FA across the adult lifespan are more pronounced in AD and offer further support for the notion of accelerated ageing in relation to alcohol dependence. These findings highlight there may be lasting structural differences in white matter in alcohol dependence, despite continued abstinence.
Date Issued
2022-09-01
Date Acceptance
2022-06-22
Citation
Addiction Biology, 2022, 27 (5)
ISSN
1355-6215
Publisher
Wiley
Journal / Book Title
Addiction Biology
Volume
27
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2022 The Authors. Addiction Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for the Study of Addiction. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
10.1111/adb.13207
Subjects
ABSTINENT ALCOHOLICS
addiction
alcohol dependence
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
CHRONIC CIGARETTE-SMOKING
COCAINE
CORPUS-CALLOSUM
DIFFUSION
DTI
GRAY-MATTER
INDIVIDUALS
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
MARIJUANA USE
neuroimaging
polydrug dependence
RECOVERY
Science & Technology
Substance Abuse
TBSS
USE DISORDERS
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e13207
Date Publish Online
2022-07-18