Cortical and subcortical gray matter shrinkage in alcohol-use disorders: a voxel-based meta-analysis.
Although gray matter (GM) damages caused by long term and excessive alcohol consumption have long been reported, the structural neuroimaging findings on alcohol-use disorders (AUD) are inconsistent. The aim of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis, using a novel voxel-based meta-analytic method effect-size signed differential mapping (ES-SDM), to characterize GM changes in AUD patients. Twelve studies including 433 AUD patients and 498 healthy controls (HCs) were retrieved. The AUD group demonstrated significant GM reductions in the corticostriatal-limbic circuits, including bilateral insula, superior temporal gyrus, striatum, dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), precentral gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), left thalamus and right hippocampus compared to HCs. GM reduction in the right striatum is significantly negatively related to duration of alcohol dependence, while GM shrinkage of the left superior, middle frontal gyrus, and left thalamus is related to lifetime alcohol consumption. The findings demonstrate that the GM abnormalities caused by AUD are in corticostriatal-limbic circuits whose dysfunctions may involve in craving and observed functional deficits.
School of Sociality and Psychology, Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu 610041, China; Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Xun
X
Yang
Department of Nuclear Medicine, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Fangfang
F
Tian
School of Sociality and Psychology, Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu 610041, China.
Handi
H
Zhang
School of Accounting, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, China.
Jianguang
J
Zeng
Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Taolin
T
Chen
Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Song
S
Wang
Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; Department of Nuclear Medicine, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China. Electronic address: zhiyunjia@hotmail.com.
Zhiyun
Z
Jia
Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; Department of Psychology, School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Qiyong
Q
Gong
D000438:Alcohols; D002540:Cerebral Cortex; D066128:Gray Matter; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D059906:Neuroimaging
D000438:Alcohols
Alcohol-use disorder (AUD); Gray matter volume; Meta-analysis; Voxel-based morphometry (VBM)