Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) of diffusion tensor imaging data in alcohol dependence: Abnormalities of the motivational neurocircuitry

Yeh, Ping-Hong; Simpson, Ken; Durazzo, Timothy C.; Gazdzinski, Stefan; Meyerhoff, Dieter J.

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2008.07.012

« Previous Next »Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 173, Issue 1 , Pages 22-30, 15 July 2009

Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) of diffusion tensor imaging data in alcohol dependence: Abnormalities of the motivational neurocircuitry

Ping-Hong Yeh
- Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center, 4150 Clement Street #114M, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA
- Northern California Institute for Research and Education, USA
- Corresponding author. Current Address: CERT_BD, 101 Manning Dr. 10612 Neurosciences Hospital, 1st Floor, CB 7160, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7160, USA. Tel.: +1 919 843 7502; fax: +1 919 843 3950.
Ken Simpson
- Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center, 4150 Clement Street #114M, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA
- Northern California Institute for Research and Education, USA
Timothy C. Durazzo
- Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center, 4150 Clement Street #114M, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA
- Northern California Institute for Research and Education, USA
- Department of Radiology, University of California San Francisco, USA
Stefan Gazdzinski
- Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center, 4150 Clement Street #114M, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA
- Northern California Institute for Research and Education, USA
Dieter J. Meyerhoff
- Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center, 4150 Clement Street #114M, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA
- Northern California Institute for Research and Education, USA
- Department of Radiology, University of California San Francisco, USA

Received 28 November 2007; received in revised form 30 April 2008; accepted 4 July 2008.

Abstract

Previous diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies indicated microstructural disruption of white matter in alcohol dependence. To investigate the microstructure of primary neurocircuitry involved in alcohol use disorders, the present study used Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) of DTI measures as well as probabilistic tractography. Eleven recovering alcoholics in their first week of abstinence from alcohol were compared with 10 light-drinking controls; diffusion measures were correlated with measures of neurocognition and drinking severity. Regions characterized by low fractional anisotropy and high mean diffusivity included cortico-striatal fibers and those in frontal white matter and limbic pathways. Greater diffusion abnormalities in sections of commissural fibers (inter-hemispheric connections) were associated with greater drinking severity, and lower fractional anisotropy measures in frontal and limbic fiber tracts correlated with lower visuospatial memory performance. These study findings provide direct evidence of compromised integrity of the motivational brain circuitry in alcohol use disorders. These abnormalities in fiber connections could be partially responsible for deficiencies in executive functions, behavioral regulation, and impulse control commonly described in alcohol dependence.

Keywords: Alcohol use disorder, Cognition, Brain MRI, Diffusion tensor imaging, DTI, Tract-based spatial statistics, TBSS, Probabilistic tractography