Smoking and structural brain deficits: a volumetric MR investigation

Abstract

Growing evidence from animal studies indicates brain-damaging properties of nicotine exposure. Investigations in humans found a wide range of functional cerebral effects of nicotine and cigarette smoking, but studies focusing on brain damage are sparse. In 22 smokers and 23 never-smokers possible differences of the cerebral structures were investigated using magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry. Significantly smaller grey matter volume and lower grey matter density (P = 0.05, corrected) were observed in the frontal regions (anterior cingulate, prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortex), the occipital lobe and the temporal lobe including parahippocampal gyrus, in smokers than in never-smokers. Group differences of either grey matter volume or grey matter density were also found in the thalamus, cerebellum and substantia nigra, among other regions. Smokers did not show greater volumes than never-smokers in any cerebral region. Magnitude of lifetime exposure to tobacco smoke (pack-years) was inversely correlated with volume of frontal and temporal lobes and cerebellum (P = 0.001, uncorrected). The data indicate structural deficits of several cortical and subcortical regions in smokers relative to never-smokers. The topographic profile of the group differences show some similarities to brain networks known to mediate drug reinforcement, attention and working memory processing. The present findings may explain in part the frequently reported cognitive dysfunctions in chronic cigarette consumers.

Changes in Executive Function Following Short-Term Tobacco Cessation Therapy in College Students

“…Consistent with the above literature, studies suggest chronic cigarette use is also associated with altered structure [24][25][26] and function [13,27] of the prefrontal cortex.…”

Cigarette smoking leads to persistent and dose-dependent alterations of brain activity and connectivity in anterior insula and anterior cingulate

“…*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 cortical thickness of the raINS and found a negative association with pack-years, cigarette dependence and urge to smoke (Morales et al 2014). Other studies have found lower GM density in the insula in smokers (compared with non-smokers) (Gallinat et al 2006;Fritz et al 2014), perhaps demonstrating the effect of nicotine and other constituents of tobacco smoke on this brain structure. Similarly, anticipation of nicotine administration (Gloria et al 2009) and administration itself (Stein et al 1998;Kobiella et al 2014) have been found to activate the aINS across fMRI studies, indicating that nicotine intake from smoking may affect insula activity as well.…”

Cortical thickness, volume and surface area in patients with bipolar disorder types I and II

“…[67][68][69][70][71] As commonly observed, the percentage of smokers was higher in patients than controls, 72 and smoking has been shown to have effects on cortical structure. [73][74][75][76][77] Although our results were maintained when controlling for smoking status, it cannot be excluded that smoking could have had an impact on the outcome. Also, controlling for medication use in our crosssectional study design might have disguised disease effects, and the observed medication effects might have influenced nontrivial interactions between morphology and different medication types.…”