Intrinsic dialogues between the two hemispheres in middle-aged male alcoholics: a resting-state functional MRI study

• Published in: Neuroreport Vol. 32; no. 3; p. 206
• Main Authors: Dai, Xiyong, Zhang, Jianlong, Gao, Lei, Yu, Jinming, Li, Yuanchun, Du, Baoguo, Huang, Xiangyi, Zhang, Haibo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 03.02.2021
• Subjects: Adult; Alcoholism - diagnostic imaging; Alcoholism - physiopathology; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - physiopathology; Broca Area - diagnostic imaging; Broca Area - physiopathology; Case-Control Studies; Default Mode Network - diagnostic imaging; Default Mode Network - physiopathology; Functional Neuroimaging; Gyrus Cinguli - diagnostic imaging; Gyrus Cinguli - physiopathology; Humans; Insular Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Insular Cortex - physiopathology; Language; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Motor Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Motor Cortex - physiopathology; Neural Pathways - diagnostic imaging; Neural Pathways - physiopathology; Parietal Lobe - diagnostic imaging; Parietal Lobe - physiopathology; Prefrontal Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Prefrontal Cortex - physiopathology; Rest; Temporal Lobe - diagnostic imaging; Temporal Lobe - physiopathology
• ISSN: 1473-558X
• DOI: 10.1097/WNR.0000000000001579

The purpose of this study was to investigate the interhemispheric intrinsic connectivity measured by resting-state functional MRI (R-fMRI) in middle-aged male alcoholics. Thirty male alcoholics (47.33 ± 8.30 years) and 30 healthy males (47.20 ± 6.17 years) were recruited and obtained R-fMRI data. Inter- and intrahemispheric coordination was performed by using voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) and seed-based functional connectivity analysis. We found significantly decreased VMHC in a set of regions in male alcoholics patients, including lateral temporal, inferior frontal gyrus, insular/insulae operculum, precuneus/posterior cingulate gyrus, and pars triangularis (P < 0.05, corrected). Subsequent seed-based functional connectivity analysis demonstrated disrupted functional connectivity between the regions of local homotopic connectivity deficits and other areas of the brain, particularly the areas subserving the default, salience, primary somatomotor, and language systems. Middle-aged male alcoholic subjects demonstrated prominent reductions in inter- and intrahemispheric functional coherence. These abnormal changes may reflect degeneration of system/network integration, particularly the domains subserving default, linguistic processing, and salience integration.