Blood Oxygen Level Dependent Response and Spatial Working Memory in Adolescents With Alcohol Use Disorders

Abstract

Background: Previous studies have suggested neural disruption and reorganization in young and older adults with alcohol use disorders (AUD). However, it remains unclear at what age and when in the progression of AUD changes in brain functioning might occur. Methods: Alcohol use disordered (n=15) and nonabusing (n=19) males and females ages 15-17 were recruited from local high schools. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were collected after a minimum of 5 days' abstinence as participants performed spatial working memory and simple motor tasks. Results: Adolescents with AUD showed greater brain response to the spatial working memory task in bilateral parietal cortices, and diminished response in other regions including the left precentral gyrus and bilateral cerebellar areas (clusters ≥ 943 μl, p < .05), although groups did not differ on behavioral measures of task performance. No brain response differences were observed during a simple finger tapping task. The degree of abnormality was greater for teens who reported experiencing more withdrawal or hangover symptoms, and who consumed more alcohol. Conclusions: Adolescents with AUD show abnormalities in brain response to a spatial working memory task, despite adequate performance, suggesting that subtle neuronal reorganization may occur early in the course of AUD.

Abstinent adolescent marijuana users show altered fMRI response during spatial working memory

“…Heightened activation among individuals with substance use disorders may be associated with compensatory neural responding to perform well on a task (e.g., Kanayama et al, 2004;Tapert et al, 2004;Schweinsburg et al, 2005b;Chang et al, 2006;Jacobsen et al, 2007). MJ teens in the current study displayed increased response in parietal cortex, yet diminished activation in prefrontal cortex, both of which play important roles in SWM (Wager and Smith, 2003).…”

“…Research on parietal functioning during working memory among individuals with substance use disorders has been somewhat inconsistent. Using the same SWM task, we previously failed to observe parietal abnormalities among adolescent users of alcohol and marijuana (Schweinsburg et al, 2005b), though teens with alcohol use disorders alone showed increased posterior parietal brain response compared with controls (Tapert et al, 2004) despite similar task performance between groups. Greater fMRI activation in posterior parietal cortex has also been observed during SWM among adult marijuana users (Kanayama et al, 2004) as well as during verbal working memory among adolescent marijuana users experiencing nicotine withdrawal (Jacobsen et al, 2007).…”

“…MJ teens in this study exhibited moderately heavy alcohol use, and our previous work has suggested alcohol-related neural dysfunction during this SWM task among heavy drinkers (Tapert et al, 2001(Tapert et al, , 2004. Thus, we performed regressions to examine whether BOLD response differences among MJ teens might be related to frequency, quantity, duration, or recency of alcohol use.…”

“…Blood-oxygen-leveldependent (BOLD) fMRI was obtained during an SWM task that typically activates bilateral prefrontal and posterior parietal networks in adolescents (Schweinsburg et al, 2005a), and has been associated with neural dysfunction among youths with alcohol use disorders (Tapert et al, 2004) as well as comorbid alcohol and marijuana use disorders (Schweinsburg et al, 2005b). We predicted that after 28 days of monitored abstinence, marijuana-using teens would demonstrate intact performance on the SWM task yet increased brain response in frontal and parietal regions.…”

fMRI response to spatial working memory in adolescents with comorbid marijuana and alcohol use disorders

“…In addition, we previously examined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain response during a spatial working memory (SWM) task among teens with AUD and demographically similar non-abusing controls (Tapert et al, 2004). Groups performed comparably on the task, but AUD teens demonstrated less brain response than controls in the midline precuneus/posterior cingulate, and more activation in bilateral posterior parietal cortex, suggesting subtle alcohol-related neural reorganization and compensation.…”