title: Disrupted white matter structural connectivity in heroin abusers.
abstract: Neurocognitive impairment is one of the factors that put heroin abusers at greater risk for relapse, and deficits in related functional brain connections have been found. However, the alterations in structural brain connections that may underlie these functional and neurocognitive impairments remain largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated topological organization alterations in the structural network of white matter in heroin abusers and examined the relationships between the network changes and clinical measures. We acquired diffusion tensor imaging datasets from 76 heroin abusers and 78 healthy controls. Network-based statistic was applied to identify alterations in interregional white matter connectivity, and graph theory methods were used to analyze the properties of global networks. The participants also completed a battery of neurocognitive measures. One increased subnetwork characterizing widespread abnormalities in structural connectivity was present in heroin users, which mainly composed of default-mode, attentional and visual systems. The connection strength was positively correlated with increases in fractional anisotropy in heroin abusers. Intriguingly, the changes in within-frontal and within-temporal connections in heroin abusers were significantly correlated with daily heroin dosage and impulsivity scores, respectively. These findings suggest that heroin abusers have extensive abnormal white matter connectivity, which may mediate the relationship between heroin dependence and clinical measures. The increase in white matter connectivity may be attributable to the inefficient microstructure integrity of white matter. The present findings extend our understanding of cerebral structural disruptions that underlie neurocognitive and functional deficits in heroin addiction and provide circuit-level markers for this chronic disorder.
authors.affiliation: National Institute on Drug Dependence, Peking University, China.|Beijing Key Laboratory on Drug Dependence Research, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materia Medical, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, China.
authors.forename: Gui-Bin
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, China.
authors.forename: Qi-Xiang
authors.initials: QX
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: National Institute on Drug Dependence, Peking University, China.|Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences and PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, China.|Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Mental Health, Peking University Sixth Hospital, China.|Beijing Key Laboratory on Drug Dependence Research, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, China.
authors.forename: Ni
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.affiliation: National Institute on Drug Dependence, Peking University, China.|Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences and PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, China.|Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Mental Health, Peking University Sixth Hospital, China.|Beijing Key Laboratory on Drug Dependence Research, China.
authors.forename: Shi-Qiu
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Radiology Department, Peking University Third Hospital, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Bin
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: National Institute on Drug Dependence, Peking University, China.|Beijing Key Laboratory on Drug Dependence Research, China.|The State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs.|Key Laboratory for Neuroscience of the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Public Healthy, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Diffusion tensor imaging; heroin abuse; neurocognition; white matter; white matter connectivity