Alcoholism and sexual dimorphism in the middle longitudinal fascicle: a pilot study

Abstract

Introduction Alcoholism can lead to a complex mixture of cognitive and emotional deficits associated with abnormalities in fronto-cortico-striatal-limbic brain circuitries. Given the broad variety of neurobehavioral symptoms, one would also expect alterations of postrolandic neocortical systems. Thus, we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to study the integrity of the middle longitudinal fascicle (MdLF), a major postrolandic association white matter tract that extends from the superior temporal gyrus to the parietal and occipital lobes, in individuals with a history of chronic alcohol abuse. Methods DTI data were acquired on a 3 Tesla scanner in 30 abstinent alcoholics (AL; 9 men) and 25 nonalcoholic controls (NC; 8 men). The MdLF was determined using DTI-based tractography. Volume of the tract, fractional anisotropy (FA), radial (RD), and axial (AD) diffusivity, were compared between AL and NC, with sex and hemispheric laterality as independent variables. The association of DTI measures with neuropsychological performance was evaluated. Results Men showed bilateral reduction of MdLF volume and abnormal diffusion measurements of the left MdLF. Analyses also indicated that the left MdLF diffusion measurements in AL men were negatively associated with Verbal IQ and verbal fluency test scores. Conclusions Abstinent alcoholic men display macrostructural abnormalities in the MdLF bilaterally, indicating an overall white matter deficit. Additionally, microstructural deficits of the left MdLF suggest more specific alterations associated with verbal skills in men.

White Matter Connectometry Among Individuals with Self-Reported Family History of Drug and Alcohol Use Disorders

“…Through early and middle adulthood, these 19 vulnerabilities may compound with increasing environmental stress and recruitment needs, and 20 examinations of familial risk should consider the role of these biological differences throughout 21 the entire lifespan developmental trajectory. Similarly, while we did not find interactive sex 22 differences in this sample, a lifespan approach may be impacted by hormonal differences in the latter half of the lifespan and interact with drinking behavior (Seitz et al 2017;Sawyer et al 1 2018). However, to fully understand these lifespan trajectories, longitudinal research is needed in 2 the population which extend from adolescence into early and middle adulthood.…”

Sexually dimorphic structural abnormalities in major connections of the medial forebrain bundle in alcoholism

“…Brain white matter is particularly susceptible to alcohol-related brain damage, as observed in post-mortem ( Harper et al, 2003 ; de la Monte, 1988 ; Sutherland et al, 2013 ) and neuroimaging studies ( Pfefferbaum and Sullivan, 2004 ; Ruiz et al, 2012 ; Seitz et al, 2016 ). Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) is sensitive to the rate and direction of water permeability ( Basser and Pierpaoli, 2011 ), enabling the study of white matter structural alterations in vivo .…”

“…However, these studies included only men, or they did not evaluate sex effects between alcoholics and controls, even though the consequences of alcohol consumption differ between men and women ( Ruiz and Oscar-Berman, 2013 ). That is, evidence from structural neuroimaging studies revealed prominent alcohol-related structural deficits in men ( Oscar-Berman and Song, 2011 ; Sawyer et al, 2016 ; Seitz et al, 2016 ), while in women, recovery of brain structural indices could occur earlier ( Ruiz et al, 2012 ). Furthermore, in an investigation of reward network volumes in alcoholism, Sawyer et al (2017) found significant differences between men and women, particularly in the DLPFC and the ventral diencephalon.…”

Brain Responsivity to Emotional Faces Differs in Alcoholic Men and Women

“…There exist clear differences in how alcohol affects men and women physiologically and in how they progress from social to problem drinkers 31 . For example, we observed genderdimorphic effects in multiple domains including emotional processing, personality, and drinking motives 5,33 , brain white matter [34][35][36][37] , morphometry of the brain reward system 38 , and brain activity in response to emotional cues 39 .…”