title: Reduced volume of the nucleus accumbens in heroin addiction.
abstract: The neural mechanisms of heroin addiction are still incompletely understood, even though modern neuroimaging techniques offer insights into disease-related changes in vivo. While changes on cortical structure have been reported in heroin addiction, evidence from subcortical areas remains underrepresented. Functional imaging studies revealed that the brain reward system and particularly the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) play a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of drug addiction. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there was a volume difference of the NAcc in heroin addiction in comparison to healthy controls. A further aim was to correlate subcortical volumes with clinical measurements on negative affects in addiction. Thirty heroin-dependent patients under maintenance treatment with diacetylmorphine and twenty healthy controls underwent structural MRI scanning at 3T. Subcortical segmentation analysis was performed using FMRIB's Integrated Registration and Segmentation Tool function of FSL. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory were used to assess trait anxiety and depressive symptoms, respectively. A decreased volume of the left NAcc was observed in heroin-dependent patients compared to healthy controls. Depression score was negatively correlated with left NAcc volume in patients, whereas a positive correlation was found between the daily opioid dose and the volume of the right amygdala. This study indicates that there might be structural differences of the NAcc in heroin-dependent patients in comparison with healthy controls. Furthermore, correlations of subcortical structures with negative emotions and opioid doses might be of future relevance for the investigation of heroin addiction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK) of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. c.seifert@lrz.tu-muenchen.de.|Department of Neurology, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany. c.seifert@lrz.tu-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: Christian L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Seifert
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Magon
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.|Division of Neuroradiology, University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.|Medical Image Analysis Centre, University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Till
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sprenger
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK) of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Undine E
authors.initials: UE
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK) of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christian G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK) of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Niklaus
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Denier
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK) of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK) of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.|Medical Image Analysis Centre, University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Medical Image Analysis Centre, University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ernst-Wilhelm
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Radue
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK) of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.|Medical Image Analysis Centre, University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Borgwardt
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK) of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D005260:Female; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000473:pathology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013557:Switzerland
keywords: Diacetylmorphine; Grey matter changes; Heroin addiction; Nucleus accumbens; Subcortical