EEG spectral power and mean frequencies in early heroin abstinence

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate cumulative heroin effects on brain functioning by studying relationships between EEG spectral power and mean frequencies and heroin abusing history. Eyes closed resting EEG data were collected from the 19 monopolar electrode sites in 33 heroin abusers and 13 age-matched healthy volunteers. The mean age of the patients was 23.1±4.5, the duration of daily heroin abuse (DDHA) ranged from 4 to 44 months, the i.v. doses of heroin ranged from 0.04 to 1.00 g/day, the abstinence length ranged from 6 days to 4.5 months. GLM repeated measures procedure revealed a significant group effect on the distribution of the mean power spectrum between bands and mean frequencies in almost all analyzed derivations. Further analysis demonstrated that these intergroup differences were diversely related to at least three aspects of heroin taking history. Frequency shifts in alpha2 range, most prominent in frontal and central derivations, were related to duration of daily heroin consumption. Slowing of alpha1 mean frequency, most prominent in central, temporal and occipital derivations, was registered mainly in heroin addicts who abused high doses of the drug. Spectral power characteristics of brain electrical activities in our patient population were strongly predicted by abstinence length. The present results give grounds to suppose that chronic heroin taking induces neuronal oscillation frequency changes, that may contribute to the development of antisocial trends and some semantic processes disturbances in these patients. Supplementary neurophysiological deficit is characteristic for heroin addicts, who takes high doses of the drug, however, its relation to heroin abusing remains unclear. Pronounced desynchronization is observed in acute heroin withdrawal, and spectral power characteristics tend to normalize almost completely during several weeks of abstinence.

EEG Biofeedback as a Treatment for Substance Use Disorders: Review, Rating of Efficacy and Recommendations for Further Research

“…Franken et al (2004) found that abstinent heroindependent participants have an enhanced fast beta power compared with healthy controls, and this finding is concordant with other EEG studies on alcohol and cocaine abusing participants (Costa & Bauer, 1997;Herning, Glover, Koeppl, Phillips, & London, 1994;Rangaswamy et al, 2004;Roemer, Cornwell, Dewart, Jackson, & Ercegovac, 1995). Spectral power and ERPs in heroin addicts strongly relate to abstinence length (Bauer, 2001b;Polunina & Davydov, 2004;Shufman et al, 1996). Most studies showed considerable or even complete normalization of EEG spectral power or magnitude of ERP components in heroin ex-addicts who maintained abstinence for at least 3 months (Bauer, 2001a(Bauer, , 2002Costa & Bauer, 1997;Papageorgiou et al, 2001;Polunina & Davidov, 2004;Shufman et al, 1996).…”

“…Gritz et al demonstrated a significant slowing of occipital alpha rhythm peak frequency in 10 methadone-maintained patients and the same trend in 10 abstinent heroin-addicted participants. In one study (Polunina & Davydov, 2004), slowing of slow alpha (8-10 Hz) mean frequency was significantly related to the amount of heroin Scientific Articlestaken by these patients daily before withdrawal. The prolongation of ERP component latencies in heroin addicts was also reported (Papageorgiou et al, 2001), and these delays significantly correlated with years of heroin use, rather than with abstinence length in the study of Bauer (1997).…”

“…Only a few studies have investigated qEEG changes in heroin addicts. Qualitative changes were observed in more than 70% of heroin addicts in the early abstinence (acute withdrawal) period; these included low-voltage background activity with diminution of alpha rhythm, an increase in beta activity, and a large amount of low-amplitude delta and theta waves in central regions (Olivennes, Charles-Nicolas, & Olievenstein, 1983;Polunina & Davydov, 2004). Franken et al (2004) found that abstinent heroindependent participants have an enhanced fast beta power compared with healthy controls, and this finding is concordant with other EEG studies on alcohol and cocaine abusing participants (Costa & Bauer, 1997;Herning, Glover, Koeppl, Phillips, & London, 1994;Rangaswamy et al, 2004;Roemer, Cornwell, Dewart, Jackson, & Ercegovac, 1995).…”

Heroin abusers' performance on the Tower of London Test relates to the baseline EEG alpha2 mean frequency shifts

“…Gritz et al (1975) demonstrated significant slowing of alpha rhythm (O1 and O2 leads) peak frequency in 10 methadone patients and the same trend in 10 abstinent subjects. In our previous study (Polunina and Davydov, 2004), the increase in alpha2 (10-13 Hz) mean frequencies in anterior/central regions correlated with the duration of daily heroin abuse without abstinence length effects in the same patient population, where poor performance on the TLT was registered.…”

“…Spectral power and ERP amplitude variables in heroin addicts strongly relate to abstinence length (Shufman et al, 1996;Bauer, 2001;Polunina and Davydov, 2004) and seem to be a consequence of catecholamine imbalances due to acute opiate withdrawal effects (Devoto et al, 2002). Most studies showed considerable or even complete normalization of EEG spectral power or amplitude of ERP components in heroin ex-addicts who maintained abstinence for at least three months (Shufman et al, 1996;Costa and Bauer, 1997;Bauer, 2001;Papageorgiou et al, 2001;Bauer, 2002).…”