Frontal white matter and cingulum diffusion tensor imaging deficits in alcoholism.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Alcoholism-related deficits in cognition and emotion point toward frontal and limbic dysfunction, particularly in the right hemisphere. Prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices are involved in cognitive and emotional functions and play critical roles in the oversight of the limbic reward system. In the present study, we examined the integrity of white matter tracts that are critical to frontal and limbic connectivity.

Methods

Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) was used to assess functional anisotropy (FA), a measure of white matter integrity, in 15 abstinent long-term chronic alcoholic and 15 demographically equivalent control men. Voxel-based and region-based analyses of group FA differences were applied to these scans.

Results

Alcoholi

SUBMITTER: Harris GJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4105344 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature