Predicting development of adolescent drinking behaviour from whole brain structure at 14 years of age

by | Addiction

https://elifesciences.org/articles/44056

Comment; I’ll be surprised if this is proven to provide long-term accuracy; I believe it’s an extremely simplistic look at a very complex problem that affects numerous other regions of the brain as the GABA receptors that alcohol works on are widely distributed.

  1. Simone Kühn , 
  2. Anna Mascharek, 
  3. Tobias Banaschewski, 
  4. Arun Bodke, 
  5. Uli Bromberg, 
  6. Christian Büchel, 
  7. Erin Burke Quinlan, 
  8. Sylvane Desrivieres, 
  9. Herta Flor 
  10. Antoine Grigis,
  11. Hugh Garavan,
  12. Penny A Gowland,
  13. Andreas Heinz,
  14. Bernd Ittermann,
  15. Jean-Luc Martinot,
  16. Frauke Nees,
  17. Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos,
  18. Tomas Paus,
  19. Luise Poustka,
  20. Sabina Millenet,
  21. Juliane H Fröhner,
  22. Michael N Smolka,
  23. Henrik Walter,
  24. Robert Whelan,
  25. Gunter Schumann,
  26. Ulman Lindenberger,
  27. Jürgen Gallinat,
  28. IMAGEN Consortium
  29. expand author listsee all
  1. University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany; 
  2. Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Germany; 
  3. Heidelberg University, Germany; 
  4. Trinity College Dublin, Ireland; 
  5. University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany; 
  6. King’s College London, United Kingdom; 
  7. University of Mannheim, Germany; 
  8. Université Paris-Saclay, France; 
  9. University of Vermont, United States 
  10. University of Nottingham, United Kingdom;
  11. Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany;
  12. Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany;
  13. Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM Unit 1000 “Neuroimaging & Psychiatry”, University ParisSud, University Paris Descartes, France;
  14. Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Canada;
  15. University of Toronto, Canada;
  16. University Medical Centre Göttingen, Germany;
  17. Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
  18. expand author listsee all

RESEARCH ARTICLE Jul 2, 2019

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  • VIEWS 941
  • ANNOTATIONS 1Open annotations. The current annotation count on this page is 1.

CITE THIS ARTICLEAS: eLife 2019;8:e44056 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.44056

Abstract

Adolescence is a common time for initiation of alcohol use and development of alcohol use disorders. The present study investigates neuroanatomical predictors for trajectories of future alcohol use based on a novel voxel-wise whole-brain structural equation modeling framework. In 1814 healthy adolescents of the IMAGEN sample, the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) was acquired at three measurement occasions across five years. Based on a two-part latent growth curve model, we conducted whole-brain analyses on structural MRI data at age 14, predicting change in alcohol use score over time. Higher grey-matter volumes in the caudate nucleus and the left cerebellum at age 14 years were predictive of stronger increase in alcohol use score over 5 years. The study is the first to demonstrate the feasibility of running separate voxel-wise structural equation models thereby opening new avenues for data analysis in brain imaging.https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44056.0011Open annotations. The current annotation count on this page is 1.eLife digest

Puberty is a time of transformation. Physical changes in the body occur alongside changes in personality and behaviour. Compared to children, adolescents tend to be risk-takers and novelty-seekers. They crave new sensations and experiences, as well as social interaction with their peers. It is around puberty that many people try alcohol for the first time. But it is not clear why people differ in their drinking habits, and why a small minority of young adults go on to become dependent on alcohol.

Part of the answer may lie in changes in the brain. Differences in the size and structure of brain regions contribute to differences in behaviour between individuals. During adolescence, the brain undergoes extensive re-modelling. It forms new connections, while also pruning away connections that are unused. Could differences in brain structure at puberty lead to differences in alcohol consumption in early adulthood?

Kühn et al. scanned the brains of about 1,800 healthy adolescents at the age of 14 and then again at 19 (within the context of the IMAGEN study). At three time points, the teenagers also filled in questionnaires about their use of alcohol. Two areas of the brain – the caudate nucleus and the left cerebellum – were larger at age 14 in teenagers who would increase their alcohol consumption by age 19. The larger the areas at age 14, the bigger the increase in alcohol consumption over time. Notably, there was no relationship between the size of either brain area at the age of 14 and how much alcohol the individuals drank at the same age.

These results may help us to understand why some young adults develop harmful drinking habits, whereas most do not. The findings are part of a large and complex picture. Other factors, such as social influences, also shape alcohol consumption. However, the findings of Kühn et al. suggest that differences in brain structure may make some individuals more likely to increase how much alcohol they drink than others. Understanding these biological differences could help researchers to develop measures to prevent addiction in young adults.https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44056.002

Dr. Raymond Oenbrink
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