title: Associations Between Cerebellar Subregional Morphometry and Alcoholism History in Men and Women.
abstract: Alcoholism has been linked to deficits in cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functions, and the cerebellum is important for optimal functioning of these abilities. However, little is known about how individual differences such as gender and drinking history might influence regional cerebellar abnormalities.
  
  
  
  Volumetric analyses of the cerebellum and its subregions were performed in relation to the interaction of gender and measures of drinking history. Structural magnetic resonance imaging scans of 44 alcoholic individuals (23 men) and 39 nonalcoholic controls (18 men) were obtained. In addition to measuring total cerebellar gray and white matter volumes, we measured 64 individual cerebellar parcellation units, as well as functionally defined a priori regions of interest that have been shown to correspond to functions impaired in alcoholism.
  
  
  
  Total cerebellar white matter volume was smaller in alcoholic relative to nonalcoholic participants. Moreover, volumes of parcellation units varied with drinking history, showing negative associations between years of heavy drinking and the anterior lobe, the vestibulocerebellar lobe, and the spinocerebellar subdivision. The negative association between anterior volume and years of heavy drinking was driven primarily by alcoholic men. Additionally, we observed larger white and gray matter volumes for alcoholic women than for alcoholic men.
  
  
  
  The identification of drinking-related abnormalities in cerebellar subregions lays a foundation that can be utilized to inform how cerebro-cerebellar networks are perturbed in this pathological condition. These results also provide estimates of how gender and individual differences in drinking history can predict cerebellar volumes.
authors.affiliation: Ph.D. Program in Behavioral Neuroscience, Graduate Medical Sciences, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.|VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts.|Athinoula A. Martinos Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Kayle S
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7767-5688
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Sawyer
authors.affiliation: Ph.D. Program in Behavioral Neuroscience, Graduate Medical Sciences, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.|VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts.|Athinoula A. Martinos Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.|Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.|Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Marlene
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oscar-Berman
authors.affiliation: VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts.|Athinoula A. Martinos Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.|Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mosher Ruiz
authors.affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Gálvez
authors.affiliation: Athinoula A. Martinos Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.|Center for Morphometric Analysis, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.|Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Nikos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Makris
authors.affiliation: Athinoula A. Martinos Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.|Radiology Computer Aided Diagnostics Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.|Harvard Medical School Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Gordon J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Athinoula A. Martinos Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.|Harvard Medical School Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Eve M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Valera
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000473:pathology*; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059906:Neuroimaging; D012737:Sex Factors; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology
keywords: Alcohol; Brain; Cerebellum; Gender; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Volume