Brain Damage Study In Patients With Chronic Alcohol Dependence Based On RfMRI

Objective: This study researched the abnormal changes of activated level of brain regions and default-mode network(DMN) connection of patients with chronic alcohol dependence(CAD), based on resting-state f MRI, with seed-based correlation analysis method, to examine brain regions with a functional connection, at meanwhile, analyze correlation between clinical parameters and brain damage characteristics, discuss the possible neural mechanism of generation and development of CAD.Methods: 20 patients with chronic alcohol dependence and 20 healthy controls(HC) whose sex, age, level of education and nicotine dependence parameters matched were examined the whole brain by Simens Magnetom Skyra 3.0T magnetic resonance imaging system. T1 WI, T2 WI, FLAIR and resting state f MRI modalities were performed, and recorded resting state functional MRI data for the two groups. According to the results of data preprocessing, we choose posterior cingulate cortex(0,-52, 30) as region of interest(ROI), analyze the network of whole brain, extract related brain regions of default-mode network by seed-based correlation analysis, through statistical analysis compare brain activation and brain network connection strength characteristics of two subjects groups. And, the correlation between brain function connection strength and the clinical parameters such as the Montreal cognitive assessment scale(Mo CA) was analyzed by using Pearson correlation analysis.Results: Based on seed-based correlation analysis, results showed brain areas of default-mode network included: medial frontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule/middle temporal gyrus, posterior cingulated cortex/precuneus and posterior lobe of cerebellum. In contrast to HC, the CAD group showed the lower connectivity of default mode network in the left cerebellum crus II, while higher connectivity in the right precuneus, left posterior cingulate, left superior temporal gyrus and right middle temporal gyrus. Compared with HC, functional connectivity of CAD group between left cerebellum crus II and right medial frontal gyrus,left superior frontal gyrus, bilateral precuneus were significant decreased, while in bilareral inferior parietal lobule, bilareral insula, left cerebellum VI were increased. Correlation analysis resultsshowed, there were no correlation between the Mo CA scores and connectivity strength( left cerebellum crus II area and related brain regions), P>0.05.Conclusion: Compared with HC, CAD group’s spatial distribution of the default network has no obvious difference. But, activity level of related brain regions and connectivity strength of part brain regions have abnormal changes. The behavior changes of CAD group were probably associated with the abnormal changes of default network, and left cerebellum crus II area of default-mode network damage possible is the key brain regions.