Prefrontal grey-matter changes in short-term and long-term abstinent methamphetamine abusers.
Authors explored grey-matter density in 29 methamphetamine abusers and 20 healthy comparison subjects using voxel-based morphometry. Grey-matter density changes and performances on the Wisconsin Card Sorting test (WCST) were also compared between 11 short-term (<6 months) and 18 long-term (>or=6 months) abstinent methamphetamine abusers. Methamphetamine abusers had lower grey-matter density in the right middle frontal cortex (corrected p<0.05) and more total errors in the WCST (p<0.01) relative to healthy comparison subjects. Grey-matter density decrease in the right middle frontal cortex correlated with total errors in the WCST in methamphetamine abusers (r=-0.45). Long-term abstinent abusers had significantly less right middle frontal grey-matter density decrease (p<0.01) and total errors in the WCST (p<0.01) than short-term abstinent abusers, but more than the healthy comparison subjects. We report that methamphetamine abusers have prefrontal grey-matter deficit, which may, in part, recover with long-term abstinence.
Gil Medical Center, Gachon Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Incheon, South Korea.
Seog Ju
SJ
Kim
In Kyoon
IK
Lyoo
Jaeuk
J
Hwang
Ain
A
Chung
Young
Y
Hoon Sung
Jihyun
J
Kim
Do-Hoon
DH
Kwon
Kee Hyun
KH
Chang
Perry F
PF
Renshaw
D000328:Adult; D019969:Amphetamine-Related Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D013997:Time Factors