According to a new study, white matter in the brain that was previously implicated in animal studies has now been suggested to be specifically impaired in the brains of people with addiction to cocaine or heroin. The research, which was published on October 6 in the journal Neuron, was conducted by
A new study reveals that impairment in a specific brain circuit in people is linked to addiction to cocaine or heroin. Credit: Mount Sinai Health System
In the study, investigators examined the connectivity of the tract between the prefrontal cortex , a brain region critical for regulating higher-order executive functions, and the habenula, a region that plays a critical role in reward and reward-associated learning. In animal models of addiction, the habenula has emerged as a key driver of drug-seeking behaviors.
For the first time in the human brain, a team of scientists used diffusion magnetic resonance imaging tractography to investigate the microstructural features of the PFC-habenula circuit in people with cocaine or heroin addiction compared to healthy control participants. Diffusion MRI tractography uses noninvasive brain imaging to model fiber bundles in the living human brain.
“In addition to identifying microstructural differences, specifically reduced coherence in the orientation of the white matter fibers in the cocaine-addicted group that comprised both current cocaine users and those with short-term abstinence, we extended results beyond cocaine to heroin , suggesting that abnormalities in this path may be generalized in addiction,” said Sarah King, who led the analyses and is first author of the paper.
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