Bilateral Fronto-Parietal Integrity in Young Chronic Cigarette Smokers: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study

PLoS One

Yongwen Deng¹  Arthur L. Brody²  Wei Hao³  Tieqiao Liu⁴  Yanhui Liao⁴  Jinsong Tang⁴  Qijian Deng⁴  Tao Luo⁴  Hongxian Chen⁴  Xiaogang Chen⁴  Xuyi Wang⁴ 

[1] Department of Neurosurgery, People's Hospital of Hunan Province, Changsha, People's Republic of China;Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, United States of America;Departments of Psychiatry and Research, Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System, Los Angeles, California, United States of America;Mental Health Institute, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, People's Republic of China

关键词: Smoking habits;    Central nervous system;    Diffusion tensor imaging;    Alcohol consumption;    Magnetic resonance imaging;    Neuroimaging;    Educational attainment;    Nicotine addiction;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.pone.0026460

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

Background Cigarette smoking continues to be the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in China and other countries. Previous studies have demonstrated gray matter loss in chronic smokers. However, only a few studies assessed the changes of white matter integrity in this group. Based on those previous reports of alterations in white matter integrity in smokers, the aim of this study was to examine the alteration of white matter integrity in a large, well-matched sample of chronic smokers and non-smokers. Methodology/Principal Findings Using in vivo diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to measure the differences of whole-brain white matter integrity between 44 chronic smoking subjects (mean age, 28.0±5.6 years) and 44 healthy age- and sex-matched comparison non-smoking volunteers (mean age, 26.3±5.8 years). DTI was performed on a 3-Tesla Siemens scanner (Allegra; Siemens Medical System). The data revealed that smokers had higher fractional anisotropy (FA) than healthy non-smokers in almost symmetrically bilateral fronto-parietal tracts consisting of a major white matter pathway, the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF). Conclusion/Significance We found the almost symmetrically bilateral fronto-parietal whiter matter changes in a relatively large sample of chronic smokers. These findings support the hypothesis that chronic cigarette smoking involves alterations of bilateral fronto-parietal connectivity.

【 授权许可】

CC BY