Regional Homogeneity Abnormalities and Its Correlation With Impulsivity in Male Abstinent Methamphetamine Dependent Individuals

Abstract

Methamphetamine (MA) use affects the brain structure and function. However, no studies have investigated the relationship between changes in regional homogeneity (ReHo) and impulsivity in MA dependent individuals (MADs). The aim of this study was to investigate the changes of brain activity under resting state in MADs and their relationship to impulsivity using ReHo method. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed to collect data from 46 MADs and 44 healthy controls (HCs) under resting state. ReHo method was used to investigate the differences in average ReHo values between the two groups. The ReHo values abnormalities of the brain regions found in inter-group comparisons were extracted and correlated with impulsivity. Compared to the HCs, MADs showed significant increased ReHo values in the bilateral striatum, while the ReHo values of the bilateral precentral gyrus and the bilateral postcentral gyrus decreased significantly. The ReHo values of the left precentral gyrus were negatively correlated with the BIS-attention, BIS-motor, and BIS-nonplanning subscale scores, while the ReHo values of the postcentral gyrus were only negatively correlated with the BIS-motor subscale scores in MADs. The abnormal spontaneous brain activity in the resting state of MADs revealed in this study may further improve our understanding of the neuro-matrix of MADs impulse control dysfunction and may help us to explore the neuropathological mechanism of MADs related dysfunction and rehabilitation.