Atrophy of Thalamic Nuclei in Patients with Alcohol Dependence
- Author:
Jeonghwan LEE
1
;
Seungwon CHUNG
;
Hyemi PARK
;
Gawon JU
;
Jung-Woo SON
;
Chul-Jin SHIN
;
Sang Ick LEE
;
Siekyeong KIM
Author Information
1. Department of Psychiatry, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju, Korea
- Publication Type:Original Articles
- From:
Journal of the Korean Society of Biological Therapies in Psychiatry
2020;26(3):259-268
- CountryRepublic of Korea
-
Abstract:
Objectives:：Chronic alcohol ingestion is associated with structural alterations in the brain. In patients with alcohol dependence, thalamic volume is frequently diminished, commensurate with the amount of alcohol consumption, duration of illness, and cognitive impairment. Since the thalamus is composed of histologically and functionally distinct nuclei, we aimed to investigate volumetric changes of these nuclei in patients with alcohol dependence.
Methods:：Twenty-three participants with alcohol dependence who had abstained from drinking for at least 3 months (alcohol group) and 21 age-matched healthy controls (control group) underwent 3T magnetic resonance imaging. The volumes of 50 individual thalamic nuclei were reconstructed using FreeSurfer 6.0.0. We compared normalized volumes of thalamic nuclei between the two groups using analysis of covariance, controlling for age. The p-values were corrected using False Discovery Rate (p<0.05).
Results:：The alcohol group demonstrated atrophy of the whole thalamus and nuclei in the anterior, ventral, intralaminar, and medial thalamus. However, the volumes of bilateral lateral geniculate, medial geniculate, suprageniculatelimitans, pulvinar lateral, and right pulvinar inferior nuclei which are included in posterior thalamus, were not significantly different between the two groups.
Conclusion:：In the alcohol group, atrophy of most thalamic nuclei which are associated with language processing, visuospatial memory, autobiographical memory, executive function and attention were not normalized after 3 months of sobriety. Furthermore, thalamic nuclei volumes, which are associated with visual and auditory information processing, were not significantly different compared to controls. We suggest that this could be microstructural evidence of relatively preserved visual attention and auditory startle response in patients with alcohol dependence.
