Altered functional connectivity and oscillatory dynamics in polysubstance and cannabis only users during visuospatial processing

Weyrich, Lucas; Arif, Yasra; Schantell, Mikki; Johnson, Hallie J; Willett, Madelyn P; Okelberry, Hannah J.; Wilson, Tony W.

doi:10.1007/s00213-023-06318-6

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 110 publications

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“…Briefly, we found reduced theta oscillations in the bilateral occipital and cerebellar cortices of cannabis users relative to non-users. These findings agree with previous neurophysiological studies where it has been shown that chronic cannabis users exhibit lower theta activity following stimulus presentation (Weyrich et al, 2023;Rangel-Pacheco et al, 2021b). In the occipital cortices, theta oscillations are known to sharply increase following visual stimulus presentation (Wiesman et al, 2017;Xie et al, 2021), and these theta oscillations have been shown to play an important role in attention sampling (Fries, 2015) and the initial sensory encoding of visual stimuli (Colgin, 2013;Landau and Fries, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Notably, neurophysiologic studies have shown that regular recreational cannabis users exhibit altered neural oscillations during attentional reorientation in dorsal and ventral attention networks (Springer et al, 2023), selective attention in visual cortices (Weyrich et al, 2023;Rangel-Pacheco et al, 2021a), and inhibitory processing in the somatosensory cortices (Arif et al, 2021). Specifically, Springer and colleagues (2023) found that chronic cannabis users exhibited stronger theta oscillations in the bilateral inferior frontal gyri during attention reorientation and weaker baseline theta power across a distributed attentional network.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, we utilized a validated visuospatial discrimination task, which has shown to be a reliable method for assessing visuospatial attention (e.g., Lew et al, 2021;Wiesman et al, 2017;Wiesman and Wilson, 2019). Based on previous reports using the same experimental paradigm with healthy controls (Wiesman et al, 2017;Wiesman and Wilson, 2019), people with HIV (Christopher-Hayes et al, 2021;Wiesman et al, 2018), Alzheimer's disease (Wiesman et al, 2021), and polysubstance users (Weyrich et al, 2023), we expected no differences in reaction times between cannabis users and non-users. Essentially, this task is designed to minimize behavior differences so that differences in behavioral performance do not potentially confound any neural oscillatory findings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chronic Cannabis users exhibit altered oscillatory dynamics and functional connectivity serving visuospatial processing

Castelblanco,

Springer,

Schantell

et al. 2024

J Psychopharmacol

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Background: Cannabis is the most widely used psychoactive drug in the United States. While multiple studies have associated acute cannabis consumption with alterations in cognitive function (e.g., visual and spatial attention), far less is known regarding the effects of chronic consumption on the neural dynamics supporting these cognitive functions. Methods: We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) and an established visuospatial processing task to elicit multi-spectral neuronal responses in 44 regular cannabis users and 53 demographically matched non-user controls. To examine the effects of chronic cannabis use on the oscillatory dynamics underlying visuospatial processing, neural responses were imaged using a time-frequency resolved beamformer and compared across groups. Results: Neuronal oscillations serving visuospatial processing were identified in the theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (8–14 Hz), and gamma range (56–76 Hz), and these were imaged and examined for group differences. Our key results indicated that users exhibited weaker theta oscillations in occipital and cerebellar regions and weaker gamma responses in the left temporal cortices compared to non-users. Lastly, alpha oscillations did not differ, but alpha connectivity among higher-order attention areas was weaker in cannabis users relative to non-users and correlated with performance. Conclusions: Overall, these results suggest that chronic cannabis users have alterations in the oscillatory dynamics and neural connectivity serving visuospatial attention. Such alterations were observed across multiple cortical areas critical for higher-order processing and may reflect compensatory activity and/or the initial emergence of aberrant dynamics. Future work is needed to fully understand the implications of altered multispectral oscillations and neural connectivity in cannabis users.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chronic Cannabis users exhibit altered oscillatory dynamics and functional connectivity serving visuospatial processing

Castelblanco,

Springer,

Schantell

et al. 2024

J Psychopharmacol

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“…Thus, it follows that regular consumption of cannabis may lead to increased GABAergic transmission, which may be responsible for these stronger beta oscillations across multiple cortical regions serving motor control. These types of region‐specific oscillatory changes in chronic cannabis users have been demonstrated previously by our laboratory and others (Arif et al, 2021; Schantell et al, 2022; Springer et al, 2021; Weyrich et al, 2023), but our current findings are the first to extend this literature into motor‐related beta oscillations.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…These types of region-specific oscillatory changes in chronic cannabis users have been demonstrated previously by our laboratory and others (Arif et al, 2021;Schantell et al, 2022;Springer et al, 2021;Weyrich et al, 2023), but our current findings are the first to extend this literature into motor-related beta oscillations.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Regular cannabis use alters the neural dynamics serving complex motor control

Ward,

Springer,

Schantell

et al. 2023

Human Brain Mapping

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Cannabis is the most widely used recreational drug in the United States and regular use has been linked to deficits in attention and memory. However, the effects of regular use on motor control are less understood, with some studies showing deficits and others indicating normal performance. Eighteen users and 23 nonusers performed a motor sequencing task during high‐density magnetoencephalography (MEG). The MEG data was transformed into the time‐frequency domain and beta responses (16–24 Hz) during motor planning and execution phases were imaged separately using a beamformer approach. Whole‐brain maps were examined for group (cannabis user/nonuser) and time window (planning/execution) effects. As expected, there were no group differences in task performance (e.g., reaction time, accuracy, etc.). Regular cannabis users exhibited stronger beta oscillations in the contralateral primary motor cortex compared to nonusers during the execution phase of the motor sequences, but not during the motor planning phase. Similar group‐by‐time window interactions were observed in the left superior parietal, right inferior frontal cortices, right posterior insular cortex, and the bilateral motor cortex. We observed differences in the neural dynamics serving motor control in regular cannabis users compared to nonusers, suggesting regular users may employ compensatory processing in both primary motor and higher‐order motor cortices to maintain adequate task performance. Future studies will need to examine more complex motor control tasks to ascertain whether this putative compensatory activity eventually becomes exhausted and behavioral differences emerge.

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Regular cannabis use modulates gamma activity in brain regions serving motor control

Webert,

Schantell,

John

et al. 2024

J Psychopharmacol

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Background: People who regularly use cannabis exhibit altered brain dynamics during cognitive control tasks, though the impact of regular cannabis use on the neural dynamics serving motor control remains less understood. Aims: We sought to investigate how regular cannabis use modulates the neural dynamics serving motor control. Methods: Thirty-four people who regularly use cannabis (cannabis+) and 33 nonusers (cannabis−) underwent structured interviews about their substance use history and performed the Eriksen flanker task to map the neural dynamics serving motor control during high-density magnetoencephalography (MEG). The resulting neural data were transformed into the time–frequency domain to examine oscillatory activity and were imaged using a beamforming approach. Results: MEG sensor-level analyses revealed robust beta (16–24 Hz) and gamma oscillations (66–74 Hz) during motor planning and execution, which were imaged using a beamformer. Both responses peaked in the left primary motor cortex and voxel time series were extracted to evaluate the spontaneous and oscillatory dynamics. Our key findings indicated that the cannabis+ group exhibited weaker spontaneous gamma activity in the left primary motor cortex relative to the cannabis− group, which scaled with cannabis use and behavioral metrics. Interestingly, regular cannabis use was not associated with differences in oscillatory beta and gamma activity, and there were no group differences in spontaneous beta activity. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that regular cannabis use is associated with suppressed spontaneous gamma activity in the left primary motor cortex, which scales with the degree of cannabis use disorder symptomatology and is coupled to behavioral task performance.

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Altered functional connectivity and oscillatory dynamics in polysubstance and cannabis only users during visuospatial processing

Cited by 3 publications

References 110 publications

Chronic Cannabis users exhibit altered oscillatory dynamics and functional connectivity serving visuospatial processing

Chronic Cannabis users exhibit altered oscillatory dynamics and functional connectivity serving visuospatial processing

Regular cannabis use alters the neural dynamics serving complex motor control

Regular cannabis use modulates gamma activity in brain regions serving motor control

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