A Control Study On Brain Structural Imaging Of Psychotic Symptoms Caused By Methamphetamine-dependence

Objective:The aim of this study was to understand the brain structure changes of patients with psychotic symptoms (such as hallucinations, delusions) caused by methamphetamine (MA) dependence. Further we explored the characteristic neuroimaging alterations of these patients and brain mechanisms of psychotic symptoms caused by methamphetamine dependence.Methods:We used Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale to measure the psychotic symptoms severity of25inpatients diagnosed by DSM-IV-TR and used Hamilton Anxiety Scale, Hamilton Depression Scale and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index to access the anxiety, depression and sleep quality between the MA-dependent individuals and26healthy controls. We examined local differences in brain structure in these two groups with three dimensional magnetic resonance imaging technology and voxel-based morphometry.Results:Smoking rate in patients with psychotic symptoms caused by MA-dependent was obviously higher than that of healthy controls, and the difference between the two groups had statistical significance (P<0.001); Compared with normal control group, experimental group patients with total scores of HAMA, HAMD and PSQI obviously on the high side, these differences between the two groups had statistical significance(P<0.001); The inpatients with psychotic symptoms had a decrease in gray matter volume compared with healthy controls in bilateral middle temporal gyrus, left cingulate gyrus, left insula, and left precuneus. And gray matter volume in right temporal gyrus was positively correlated with HAMA scores.Conclusions:1. The individuals with psychotic symptoms caused by methamphetamine-dependent had special characteristics that the people were more likely to experience negative emotions, such as anxiety and depression. These characteristics were contributed to the patients’ thirst for drugs and risk factors lead to vicious circle of withdrawal-relapse.2. The imaging results suggested that the gray matter volume reduction in temporal lobe, limbic system and parietal lobe might be associated with the appearance of psychotic symptoms caused by MA dependence and drug use.