The effects of synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) on brain structure and function
| Autor: | Niv Tik, Koby Cohen, Paola Rosca, Aviv Weinstein, Galia Tsarfaty, Abigail Livny |
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| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Adolescent Precuneus Inferior frontal gyrus Neuroimaging Grey matter behavioral disciplines and activities Lingual gyrus Drug Users 03 medical and health sciences Young Adult 0302 clinical medicine medicine Middle frontal gyrus Humans Pharmacology (medical) Gray Matter Biological Psychiatry Anterior cingulate cortex Pharmacology Working memory business.industry Cannabinoids Echo-Planar Imaging Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging 030227 psychiatry Psychiatry and Mental health Inhibition Psychological medicine.anatomical_structure Memory Short-Term Neurology Case-Control Studies Brain size Female Neurology (clinical) Atrophy business Neuroscience 030217 neurology & neurosurgery |
| Zdroj: | European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. 28(9) |
| ISSN: | 1873-7862 |
| Popis: | There is an increasing use of “Novel Psychoactive Substances” containing synthetic cannabinoids worldwide. Synthetic cannabinoids (SC) are highly addictive and cause severe adverse effects. The purpose of our study was to assess whether chronic use of SC alters brain volume and function. Fifteen SC chronic users and 15 healthy control participants undertook an MRI scan to assess brain volume and function while performing a working memory N-back task and a response-inhibition Go-No-Go task. SC users showed impaired performance on the N-back task but not on the Go-No-Go task. They also showed reduced total gray matter volume compared with control participants, as well as reduced gray matter volume in several cortical regions including the middle frontal gyrus, frontal orbital gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, insula, anterior cingulate cortex and the precuneus. Moreover, SC users showed diminished brain activations in the precuneus, cuneus, lingual gyrus, hippocampus and cerebellum while performing the N-back task. No differences were found in brain activation while performing the response-inhibition task. This is the first study showing overall reduced grey matter volume and specific reduced grey matter volumes in chronic SC users. Furthermore, this study showed for the first time impairment in the neural brain mechanisms responsible for working memory in SC users. Our results of reduced grey matter density and diminished activation during a working memory task in SC users, may suggest vulnerability of the frontal-parietal network in chronic SC users. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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