Dataset Information

Sex and dependence related neuroanatomical differences in regular cannabis users: findings from the ENIGMA Addiction Working Group.

ABSTRACT: Males and females show different patterns of cannabis use and related psychosocial outcomes. However, the neuroanatomical substrates underlying such differences are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to map sex differences in the neurobiology (as indexed by brain volumes) of dependent and recreational cannabis use. We compared the volume of a priori regions of interest (i.e., amygdala, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, insula, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), anterior cingulate cortex and cerebellum) between 129 regular cannabis users (of whom 70 were recreational users and 59 cannabis dependent) and 114 controls recruited from the ENIGMA Addiction Working Group, accounting for intracranial volume, age, IQ, and alcohol and tobacco use. Dependent cannabis users, particularly females, had (marginally significant) smaller volumes of the lateral OFC and cerebellar white matter than recreational users and controls. In dependent (but not recreational) cannabis users, there was a significant association between female sex and smaller volumes of the cerebellar white matter and OFC. Volume of the OFC was also predicted by monthly standard drinks. No significant effects emerged the other brain regions of interest. Our findings warrant future multimodal studies that examine if sex and cannabis dependence are specific key drivers of neurobiological alterations in cannabis users. This, in turn, could help to identify neural pathways specifically involved in vulnerable cannabis users (e.g., females with cannabis dependence) and inform individually tailored neurobiological targets for treatment.

SUBMITTER: Rossetti MG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8102553 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Sex and dependence related neuroanatomical differences in regular cannabis users: findings from the ENIGMA Addiction Working Group.

Rossetti Maria Gloria MG Mackey Scott S Patalay Praveetha P Allen Nicholas B NB Batalla Albert A Bellani Marcella M Chye Yann Y Conrod Patricia P Cousijn Janna J Garavan Hugh H Goudriaan Anna E AE Hester Robert R Martin-Santos Rocio R Solowij Nadia N Suo Chao C Thompson Paul M PM Yücel Murat M Brambilla Paolo P Lorenzetti Valentina V

Translational psychiatry 20210506 1

Males and females show different patterns of cannabis use and related psychosocial outcomes. However, the neuroanatomical substrates underlying such differences are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to map sex differences in the neurobiology (as indexed by brain volumes) of dependent and recreational cannabis use. We compared the volume of a priori regions of interest (i.e., amygdala, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, insula, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), anterior cingulate cortex and cer ...[more]

PMID: 33958576

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Project description:Despite its widespread use and popularity, cannabis is known to impact higher order cognitive processes such as attention and executive function. However, far less is known about the impact of chronic cannabis use on cognitive flexibility, a component of executive function, and this is especially true for the underlying functional connectivity dynamics. To address this, we enrolled 25 chronic cannabis users and 30 demographically matched non-users who completed an interview probing current and past substance use, a urinalysis to confirm self-reported substance use and a task-switch cognitive paradigm during magnetoencephalography (MEG). Time-frequency windows of interest were identified using a data-driven statistical approach, and spectrally specific neural oscillatory responses were imaged using a beamformer. The resulting maps were grand-averaged across all participants and conditions, and the peak voxels in these maps of neural oscillatory activity were used as seeds to compute connectivity using a whole-brain cortical-coherence approach. Whole-brain neural switch cost connectivity maps were then computed by subtracting the connectivity map for the no-switch condition from that of the switch condition per participant. These switch cost functional connectivity maps were then correlated with the behavioural switch cost per group and probed for group differences in the neuro-behavioural associations. Our behavioural results indicated that all participants had slower reaction times during switch compared to no-switch trials. Regarding the MEG data, cannabis users exhibited altered associations between functional connectivity switch costs and behavioural switch costs along pathways connecting visual cortices and regions in the ventral attention network, within the theta, alpha and gamma frequency ranges. These results indicate modified multispectral associations between functional connectivity and behavioural switch costs among visual cortices and key brain regions underlying executive function in cannabis users.

Dataset Information

Sex and dependence related neuroanatomical differences in regular cannabis users: findings from the ENIGMA Addiction Working Group.

Publications

Sex and dependence related neuroanatomical differences in regular cannabis users: findings from the ENIGMA Addiction Working Group.

Similar Datasets

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