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Changes in gray matter volume differ among men, women with stimulant dependence

Women dependent on stimulants exhibited significant changes in gray matter volume after prolonged abstinence, but men did not, according to study findings in Radiology.

“Understanding the neurobiology of substance dependence is requisite to advancing treatments. Neuroanatomic changes in patients with drug addiction have been studied extensively by using voxel-based morphometry. Structural changes have been observed in the orbitofrontal cortex, medial frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus, insula, and nucleus accumbens in patients with stimulant dependence,” study researcher Michael F. Regner, MD, of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, in Aurora, and colleagues wrote.

Michael F. Regner

To assess if gender influences the effects of stimulant dependence on gray matter volume, researchers conducted T1-weighted spoiled gradient-echo inversion recovery MRI scans among 59 patients previously dependent on methamphetamine, cocaine or amphetamine-class substances and 68 age- and sex-matched healthy controls.

Women with stimulant dependence had lower gray matter volume in widespread brain regions compared with female controls (P < .001).

Gray matter volume did not significantly differ among male study participants (P = .625).

Number of dependence symptoms negatively correlated with gray matter volume in the nucleus accumbens among women (P = .031) but not men (P = .625).

Behavioral approach and impulsivity was negatively associated with frontal and temporal changes in gray white matter among women with stimulant dependence. This pattern was not observed among any other group.

“Vast neuroanatomic changes observed in abstinent patients with stimulant dependence were present in women but not in men. In particular, structures involved in reward, learning, executive control, and affective processing pathways were affected: the insula, orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, medial frontal gyrus, and nucleus accumbens,” Regner and colleagues wrote. “These changes correlated with drug use and behavioral measures and may help to explain differences in the clinical course of stimulant dependence in women compared with that in men.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: Regner reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.