Dataset Information

Altered cerebellar-cortical resting-state functional connectivity in cannabis users.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cannabis use has been associated with abnormalities in cerebellar mediated motor and non-motor (i.e. cognition and personality) phenomena. Since the cerebellum is a region with high cannabinoid type 1 receptor density, these impairments may reflect alterations of signaling between the cerebellum and other brain regions.

Aims

We hypothesized that cerebellar-cortical resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) would be altered in cannabis users, relative to their non-using peers. It was also hypothesized that differences in rsFC would be associated with cannabis use features, such as age of initiation and lifetime use.

Methods

Cerebellar-cortical and subcortical rsFCs were computed between 28 cerebellar lobules, defined by a spatially unbiased atlas template of the cerebellum, and individual voxels in the cerebral regions, in 41 regular cannabis users (20 female) and healthy non-using peers (N = 31; 18 female). We also investigated associations between rsFC and cannabis use features (e.g. lifetime cannabis use and age of initiation).

Results

Cannabis users demonstrated hyperconnectivity between the anterior cerebellar regions (i.e. lobule I-IV) with the posterior cingulate cortex, and hypoconnectivity between the rest of the cerebellum (i.e. Crus I and II, lobule VIIb, VIIIa, VIIIb, IX, and X) and the cortex. No associations were observed between features of cannabis use and rsFC.

Conclusions

Cannabis use was associated with altered patterns of rsFC from the cerebellum to the cerebral cortex which may have a downstream impact on behavior and cognition.

SUBMITTER: Schnakenberg Martin AM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8813046 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Altered cerebellar-cortical resting-state functional connectivity in cannabis users.

Schnakenberg Martin Ashley M AM Kim Dae-Jin DJ Newman Sharlene D SD Cheng Hu H Hetrick William P WP Mackie Ken K O'Donnell Brian F BF

Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) 20210525 7

<h4>Background</h4>Cannabis use has been associated with abnormalities in cerebellar mediated motor and non-motor (i.e. cognition and personality) phenomena. Since the cerebellum is a region with high cannabinoid type 1 receptor density, these impairments may reflect alterations of signaling between the cerebellum and other brain regions.<h4>Aims</h4>We hypothesized that cerebellar-cortical resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) would be altered in cannabis users, relative to their non-usi ...[more]

PMID: 34034553

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Project description:Cannabis is one of the most used and commodified illicit substances worldwide, especially among young adults. The neurobiology mechanism of cannabis is yet to be identified particularly in youth. The purpose of this study was to concurrently measure alterations in brain structural and functional connectivity in cannabis users using resting-state functional magnetic resonance images (rs-fMRI) and diffusion-weighted images (DWI) from a group of 73 cannabis users (age 22-36, 19 female) in comparison with 73 healthy controls (age 22-36, 14 female) from Human Connectome Project (HCP). Several significant differences were observed in local structural/functional network measures (e.g. degree and clustering coefficient), being prominent in the insular and frontal opercular cortex and lateral/medial temporal cortex. The rich-club organization of structural networks revealed a normal trend, distributed within bilateral frontal, temporal and occipital regions. However, minor differences were found between the two groups in the superior and inferior temporal gyri. Functional rich-club nodes were mostly located within parietal and posterior areas, with minor differences between the groups found mainly in the centro-temporal and parietal regions. Regional network measures of structural/functional networks were associated with times used cannabis (TUC) in several regions. Although the structural/functional network in both groups showed small-world property, no differences between cannabis users and healthy controls were found regarding the global network measures, showing no association with cannabis use. After FDR correction, all of the significant associations between network measures and TUC were found to be insignificant, except for the association between degree and TUC within the presubiculum region. To recap, our findings revealed alterations in local topological properties of structural and functional networks in cannabis users, although their global brain network organization remained intact.

Project description:Despite its widespread use and popularity, cannabis is known to impact higher order cognitive processes such as attention and executive function. However, far less is known about the impact of chronic cannabis use on cognitive flexibility, a component of executive function, and this is especially true for the underlying functional connectivity dynamics. To address this, we enrolled 25 chronic cannabis users and 30 demographically matched non-users who completed an interview probing current and past substance use, a urinalysis to confirm self-reported substance use and a task-switch cognitive paradigm during magnetoencephalography (MEG). Time-frequency windows of interest were identified using a data-driven statistical approach, and spectrally specific neural oscillatory responses were imaged using a beamformer. The resulting maps were grand-averaged across all participants and conditions, and the peak voxels in these maps of neural oscillatory activity were used as seeds to compute connectivity using a whole-brain cortical-coherence approach. Whole-brain neural switch cost connectivity maps were then computed by subtracting the connectivity map for the no-switch condition from that of the switch condition per participant. These switch cost functional connectivity maps were then correlated with the behavioural switch cost per group and probed for group differences in the neuro-behavioural associations. Our behavioural results indicated that all participants had slower reaction times during switch compared to no-switch trials. Regarding the MEG data, cannabis users exhibited altered associations between functional connectivity switch costs and behavioural switch costs along pathways connecting visual cortices and regions in the ventral attention network, within the theta, alpha and gamma frequency ranges. These results indicate modified multispectral associations between functional connectivity and behavioural switch costs among visual cortices and key brain regions underlying executive function in cannabis users.

Dataset Information

Altered cerebellar-cortical resting-state functional connectivity in cannabis users.

Background

Aims

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Altered cerebellar-cortical resting-state functional connectivity in cannabis users.

Similar Datasets

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