The effect of crack cocaine addiction and age on the microstructure and morphology of the human striatum and thalamus using shape analysis and fast diffusion kurtosis imaging. The striatum and thalamus are subcortical structures intimately involved in addiction. The morphology and microstructure of these have been studied in murine models of cocaine addiction (CA), showing an effect of drug use, but also chronological age in morphology. Human studies using non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have shown inconsistencies in volume changes, and have also shown an age effect. In this exploratory study, we used MRI-based volumetric and novel shape analysis, as well as a novel fast diffusion kurtosis imaging sequence to study the morphology and microstructure of striatum and thalamus in crack CA compared to matched healthy controls (HCs), while investigating the effect of age and years of cocaine consumption.
Garza-Villarreal EA1,2,3, Chakravarty MM4,5,6, Hansen B3, Eskildsen SF3, Devenyi GA4, Castillo-Padilla D1,2, Balducci T2, Reyes-Zamorano E2,7, Jespersen SN3,8, Perez-Palacios P2, Patel R4,6, Gonzalez-Olvera JJ2.
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1 CONACYT, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría ‘Ramon de la Fuente Muñiz’, Mexico City, Mexico.
2 Subdirección de Investigaciones Clínicas, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría ‘Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz’, Mexico City, Mexico.
3 Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN) and MINDLab, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
4 Cerebral Imaging Centre, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, QC, Canada.
5 Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
6 Department of Biological and Biomedical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
7 School of Psychology, Universidad Anáhuac México Sur, Mexico City, Mexico.
8 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
