Thalamic abnormalities are a cardinal feature of alcohol-related brain dysfunction

Pitel, Anne‐Lise; Segobin, Shailendra; Ritz, Ludivine; Eustache, Francis; Beaunieux, Hélène

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.07.023

Cited by 62 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 103 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The thalamus is therefore shared by the two circuits in which it plays a key role. 9 The alteration of the nodes of the frontocerebellar and Papez's circuits in chronic alcoholism is in agreement with the neuropsychological studies that have shown executive and motor impairments as well as episodic memory deficits in alcoholic patients. 5,10 The study of brain glucose metabolism has received limited attention in alcoholism.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Direct voxel-based comparisons between grey matter shrinkage and glucose hypometabolism in chronic alcoholism

Ritz

Segobin

Lannuzel

et al. 2016

J Cereb Blood Flow Metab

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alcoholism is associated with widespread brain structural abnormalities affecting mainly the frontocerebellar and the Papez's circuits. Brain glucose metabolism has received limited attention, and few studies used regions of interest approach and showed reduced global brain metabolism predominantly in the frontal and parietal lobes. Even though these studies have examined the relationship between grey matter shrinkage and hypometabolism, none has performed a direct voxel-by-voxel comparison between the degrees of structural and metabolic abnormalities. Seventeen alcoholic patients and 16 control subjects underwent both structural magnetic resonance imaging and 18 F-2-fluoro-deoxy-glucosepositron emission tomography examinations. Structural abnormalities and hypometabolism were examined in alcoholic patients compared with control subjects using two-sample t-tests. Then, these two patterns of brain damage were directly compared with a paired t-test. Compared to controls, alcoholic patients had grey matter shrinkage and hypometabolism in the fronto-cerebellar circuit and several nodes of Papez's circuit. The direct comparison revealed greater shrinkage than hypometabolism in the cerebellum, cingulate cortex, thalamus and hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus. Conversely, hypometabolism was more severe than shrinkage in the dorsolateral, premotor and parietal cortices. The distinct profiles of abnormalities found within the Papez's circuit, the fronto-cerebellar circuit and the parietal gyrus in chronic alcoholism suggest the involvement of different pathological mechanisms.

show abstract

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Direct voxel-based comparisons between grey matter shrinkage and glucose hypometabolism in chronic alcoholism

Ritz

Segobin

Lannuzel

et al. 2016

J Cereb Blood Flow Metab

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Numerous imaging studies reported functional (George et al, 2001, Shokri-Kojori et al, 2016, Wrase et al, 2007) and structural (Kong et al, 2012, Pitel et al, 2015, Sullivan et al, 2003) thalamic changes in alcohol addicts. In our previous fMRI study of social drinkers, higher AUDIT score was correlated with impaired inhibition and diminished responses in the cerebellum, thalamus, frontal and parietal regions, independent of years of alcohol use (Hu et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in the interacting roles of impulsivity and positive alcohol expectancy in problem drinking: A structural brain imaging study

Ide

Zhornitsky

et al. 2017

NeuroImage: Clinical

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alcohol expectancy and impulsivity are implicated in alcohol misuse. However, how these two risk factors interact to determine problem drinking and whether men and women differ in these risk processes remain unclear. In 158 social drinkers (86 women) assessed for Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT), positive alcohol expectancy, and Barratt impulsivity, we examined sex differences in these risk processes. Further, with structural brain imaging, we examined the neural bases underlying the relationship between these risk factors and problem drinking. The results of general linear modeling showed that alcohol expectancy best predicted problem drinking in women, whereas in men as well as in the combined group alcohol expectancy and impulsivity interacted to best predict problem drinking. Alcohol expectancy was associated with decreased gray matter volume (GMV) of the right posterior insula in women and the interaction of alcohol expectancy and impulsivity was associated with decreased GMV of the left thalamus in women and men combined and in men alone, albeit less significantly. These risk factors mediated the correlation between GMV and problem drinking. Conversely, models where GMV resulted from problem drinking were not supported. These new findings reveal distinct psychological factors that dispose men and women to problem drinking. Although mediation analyses did not determine a causal link, GMV reduction in the insula and thalamus may represent neural phenotype of these risk processes rather than the consequence of alcohol consumption in non-dependent social drinkers. The results add to the alcohol imaging literature which has largely focused on dependent individuals and help elucidate alterations in brain structures that may contribute to the transition from social to habitual drinking.

show abstract

“…The important roles of the thalamus in alcohol dependence have been revealed by previous studies (Gilman, Smith, Ramchandani, Momenan, & Hommer, 2012;Hu, Ide, Zhang, Sinha, & Chiang-shan, 2015;Schmaal et al, 2013;Zhornitsky et al, 2018), such as the implications of the modular dysfunction and structural deficits of thalamus in reward processing and cognitive control (Chanraud et al, 2007;Grodin & Momenan, 2017;Pitel, Segobin, Ritz, Eustache, & Beaunieux, 2015). Disruptions to these psychological processes are critical features of alcohol dependence, and the thalamus appears to be particularly vulnerable to the influence of alcohol (Pitel et al, 2015). Meanwhile, the thalamus plays crucial roles in sleep and circadian rhythmicity (Jan, Reiter, Wasdell, & Bax, 2009;Krone et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Reduced resting‐state functional connectivity and sleep impairment in abstinent male alcohol‐dependent patients

Liu

Cai

Zhao

et al. 2019

Human Brain Mapping

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alcohol dependence is associated with poor sleep quality, which has both been implicated with thalamocortical circuits function. To identify the possible roles of these circuits in the alcohol‐sleep association, we investigated the volume of both left and right thalamus and corresponding resting‐state functional connectivity (RSFC) differences between 15 alcohol‐dependent patients (AD) and 15 healthy controls (HC) male participants. The neuroimaging findings were then correlated with clinical variables, that is, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Additionally, mediation analysis was carried out to test whether the thalamocortical RSFC mediates the relationship between drinking behavior and sleep impairments in AD when applicable. We observed a significant positive correlation between AUDIT score and PSQI score in AD. Compared with HC, AD showed reduced RSFC between the left thalamus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and right caudate. We also observed a negative correlation between RSFC of the left thalamus–mPFC and PSQI score in AD. More importantly, the left thalamus–mPFC RSFC strength mediated the relationship between AUDIT score and PSQI score in AD. No significant difference was detected in the normalized volume of both left and right thalamus, and volumes were not significantly correlated with clinical variables. Our results demonstrate that AD show abnormal interactions within thalamocortical circuits in association with drinking behaviors and sleep impairments. It is hoped that our study focusing on thalamocortical circuits could provide new information on potential novel therapeutic targets for treatment of sleep impairment in alcohol‐dependent patients.

show abstract

Thalamic abnormalities are a cardinal feature of alcohol-related brain dysfunction

Cited by 62 publications

References 103 publications

Direct voxel-based comparisons between grey matter shrinkage and glucose hypometabolism in chronic alcoholism

Direct voxel-based comparisons between grey matter shrinkage and glucose hypometabolism in chronic alcoholism

Sex differences in the interacting roles of impulsivity and positive alcohol expectancy in problem drinking: A structural brain imaging study

Reduced resting‐state functional connectivity and sleep impairment in abstinent male alcohol‐dependent patients

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About