Not lesser but Greater fractional anisotropy in adolescents with alcohol use disorders
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to examine white matter microstructure using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in a sample of adolescents with alcohol use disorders (AUD) and no psychiatric or substance co-morbidity. METHODS: Fifty adolescents with AUD and fifty non-alcohol abusing controls matched on gender and age were studied with DTI, neurocognitive testing, and a clinical assessment that included measures of alcohol use and childhood trauma. Maps of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were computed, registered to a common template, and voxel-wise statistical analysis used to assess group differences. Associations between regions of altered WM microstructure and clinical or neurocognitive measures were also assessed. RESULTS: Compared with controls, adolescent drinkers without co-morbid substance abuse or externalizing disorder, showed 1) no regions of significantly lower FA, 2) increased FA in WM tracts of the limbic system; 3) no MD differences; and 4) within the region of higher FA in AUD, there were no associations between FA and alcohol use, cognition, or trauma. DISCUSSION: The most important observation of this study is our failure to observe significantly smaller FA in this relatively large alcohol abuse/dependent adolescent sample. Greater FA in the limbic regions observed in this study may index a risk for adolescent AUD instead of a consequence of drinking. Drinking behavior may be reinforced in those with higher FA and perhaps greater myelination in these brain regions involved in reward and reinforcement.
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One large study of younger adolescents found higher FA with higher Alcohol Use Disorders scores, but the result did not survive correction for multiple comparisons.
“Although one large study in younger adolescents found higher FA in individuals with higher Alcohol Use Disorders scores (Cardenas et al., 2013), this result did not stand after correction for multiple comparisons.”
From Substance abuse and white matter: Findings, limitations, and future of diffusion tensor imaging research (2019) · cites this paper as Cardenas et al., 2013
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- Authors
- Cardenas, V. A., Greenstein, D., Fouche, J.-P., Ferrett, H., Cuzen, N., Stein, D. J., & Fein, G.
- Affiliations
- Neurobehavioral Research (United States) (US)
- University of Cape Town (ZA)
- Corresponding author
- Cardenas, Valerie A.
- Venue
- NeuroImage: Clinical
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 2
- Pages
- 804-809
- ISSN
- 2213-1582 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3777768
- OpenAlex
- W2000976418
- Cited by
- 37
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 7
- FWCI
- 3.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- NeuroImage Clinical (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (RO1 AA016303)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- adolescent alcohol use disorders, fractional anisotropy, white matter microstructure, limbic system, mean diffusivity, childhood trauma, neurocognitive function, myelination, reward and reinforcement, alcohol dependence risk
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