Sexually dimorphic structural abnormalities in major connections of the medial forebrain bundle in alcoholism

Ana María Rivas-Grajales; Kayle S. Sawyer; Sarina Karmacharya; George Papadimitriou; Joan A. Camprodon; Gordon J. Harris; Marek Kubicki; Marlene Oscar-Berman; Nikos Makris

NeuroImage: Clinical (Jan 2018)

Sexually dimorphic structural abnormalities in major connections of the medial forebrain bundle in alcoholism

Ana María Rivas-Grajales,
Kayle S. Sawyer,
Sarina Karmacharya,
George Papadimitriou,
Joan A. Camprodon,
Gordon J. Harris,
Marek Kubicki,
Marlene Oscar-Berman,
Nikos Makris

Affiliations

Ana María Rivas-Grajales: Department of Psychiatry, Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA; Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
Kayle S. Sawyer: Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA; Sawyer Scientific, LLC, Boston, MA, USA
Sarina Karmacharya: Department of Psychiatry, Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
George Papadimitriou: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA; Center for Morphometric Analysis, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
Joan A. Camprodon: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
Gordon J. Harris: Center for Morphometric Analysis, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Radiology Computer Aided Diagnostics Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
Marek Kubicki: Department of Psychiatry, Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA; Center for Morphometric Analysis, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
Marlene Oscar-Berman: Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA; Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
Nikos Makris: Department of Psychiatry, Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA; Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; Center for Morphometric Analysis, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Corresponding author at: Department of Psychiatry, Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 19
pp. 98 – 105

Abstract

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Background: The mesocorticolimbic system is particularly susceptible to the effects of chronic alcoholism. Disruption of this system has been linked to drug seeking and the development of Reward Deficiency Syndrome, a neurobiological framework for describing the development and relapsing patterns of addictions. In this study, we evaluated the association of alcoholism and sex with major connections of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB), a prominent mesocorticolimbic fiber pathway connecting the ventral tegmental area with the basal forebrain. Given sex differences in clinical consequences of alcohol consumption, we hypothesized that alcoholic men and women would differ in structural abnormalities of the MFB. Methods: Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) data were acquired from 30 abstinent long-term alcoholic individuals (ALC; 9 men) and 25 non-alcoholic controls (NC; 8 men). Major connections of the MFB were extracted using multi-tensor tractography. We compared groups on MFB volume, fractional anisotropy (FA), radial diffusivity (RD), and axial diffusivity (AD), with hemisphere and sex as independent variables. We also evaluated associations between abnormal structural measures and drinking measures. Results: Analyses revealed significant group-by-sex interactions for FA and RD: while ALC men had lower FA and higher RD compared to NC men, ALC women had higher FA and lower RD compared to NC women. We also detected a significant negative association between FA and number of daily drinks in ALC women. Conclusion: Alcoholism is associated with sexually dimorphic structural abnormalities in the MFB. The results expand upon other findings of differences in brain reward circuitry of alcoholic men and women. Keywords: Alcohol, Reward system, Medial forebrain bundle, Diffusion MRI, Sex, Drinking history

Published in NeuroImage: Clinical

ISSN: 2213-1582 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: Netherlands
LCC subjects: Medicine: Medicine (General): Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics; Medicine: Internal medicine: Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry: Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system
Website: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/neuroimage-clinical/

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