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Structural brain correlates of alcohol and cannabis use in recreational users

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2014

Murat Yücel ,
Dan I. Lubman ,
Dennis Velakoulis ,
Michael T. H. Wong ,
Stephen J. Wood ,
Anita Condello ,
Warrick J. Brewer  and
Christos Pantelis
Murat Yücel*
Affiliation:
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Melbourne ORYGEN Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Melbourne, Australia
Dan I. Lubman
Affiliation:
ORYGEN Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Melbourne, Australia
Dennis Velakoulis
Affiliation:
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Melbourne
Michael T. H. Wong
Affiliation:
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Melbourne
Stephen J. Wood
Affiliation:
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Melbourne
Anita Condello
Affiliation:
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Melbourne ORYGEN Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Melbourne, Australia
Warrick J. Brewer
Affiliation:
ORYGEN Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Melbourne, Australia
Christos Pantelis
Affiliation:
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Melbourne Howard Florey Institute, The University of Melbourne, Australia
*
Dr Murat Yücel, PhD, MAPS, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre c/o National Neuroscience Facility, 161 Barry Street, Carlton South, Victoria 3053, Australia. Tel: +613 8344-1877; Fax: +613 8345-0599; E-mail: murat@unimelb.edu.au
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Abstract

Background:

Previous studies on substance-dependent populations have shown that age of first use and duration of use are associated with alterations in regional brain volumes. However, it is not clear whether such alterations are factors that predispose young people to use, and so are also present in recreational users, or are a consequence of chronic exposure to substances and/or comorbid psychopathology.

Objective:

To investigate relationships between key brain structures and parameters of alcohol and cannabis use, in otherwise healthy male recreational users.

Method:

High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure hippocampal, amygdala, whole-brain and intracranial cavity (ICC) volumes in 22 young men with a history of both alcohol and cannabis use.

Results:

Linear regression analyses with hippocampal, amygdala and whole-brain volumes as the dependent variables and age and ICC as covariates were performed. Findings showed that use of cannabis and alcohol at an earlier age were independently predictive of larger amygdala volumes, whereas longer duration of cannabis use was predictive of smaller hippocampal volumes.

Conclusions:

Our findings offer preliminary support for a relationship between patterns of substance use and regional brain volumes in recreational users. It is speculative, but possible that this relationship is an evidence of a neurobiological vulnerability to drug-taking behaviour.

Keywords

adolescencealcoholamygdalabraincannabisdrughippocampusmarijuana
Type
Brief Report
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 18 , Issue 5 , October 2006 , pp. 226 - 229
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 Blackwell Munksgaard

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