title: Self-reported impulsivity is negatively correlated with amygdalar volumes in cocaine dependence.
abstract: Although impulsivity has been associated with cocaine dependence and other addictive behaviors, the biological factors underlying impulsivity have yet to be precisely determined. This study aimed to examine relationships between impulsivity and volumes of the amygdala and hippocampus in cocaine-dependent and healthy comparison individuals. The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) was used to assess impulsivity. FreeSurfer was used to assess amygdalar and hippocampal volumes from high-resolution structural magnetic resonance images. Relative to healthy comparison subjects, cocaine-dependent individuals scored higher on all three subscales of BIS-11 but did not differ from healthy comparison subjects in amygdalar or hippocampal volumes. Cocaine-dependent individuals showed significant negative correlations between amygdalar volumes and scores on the BIS-11 Attentional subscale, and this relationship differed significantly from the non-significant relationship in healthy comparison subjects. As individual differences in amygdalar structure may contribute to the high impulsivity observed in cocaine-dependent individuals, the findings suggest that future studies should assess the extent to which therapies that target impulsivity in cocaine dependence may operate through the amygdala or alter its structure or function.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, China; Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, United States.
authors.forename: Songli
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mei
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, United States. Electronic address: Jiansong.xu@Yale.edu.
authors.forename: Jiansong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, United States.
authors.forename: Kathleen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Carroll
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, United States; Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, United States; Department of Neurobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, United States.
authors.forename: Marc N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Potenza
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003042:Cocaine / Q000009:adverse effects*; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D003042:Cocaine
keywords: Addiction; Amygdala; BIS-11; Brain volume; Hippocampus; MRI; Neuroimaging; Substance use disorder