Attentional Control and Brain Metabolite Levels in Methamphetamine Abusers

Salo, Ruth; Nordahl, Thomas E.; Natsuaki, Yutaka; Leamon, Martin H.; Galloway, Gantt P.; Waters, Christy; Moore, Charles D.; Buonocore, Michael H.

doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.07.031

« Previous Next »Biological Psychiatry
Volume 61, Issue 11 , Pages 1272-1280, 1 June 2007

Attentional Control and Brain Metabolite Levels in Methamphetamine Abusers

Ruth Salo
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis, California
- Imaging Research Center, University of California, Davis, California
- Address reprint requests to Ruth Salo, Ph.D., Imaging Research Center and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California–Davis Medical Center, 4701 X Street, Sacramento, CA 95817
Thomas E. Nordahl
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis, California
- Imaging Research Center, University of California, Davis, California
Yutaka Natsuaki
- Imaging Research Center, University of California, Davis, California
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Davis, California
Martin H. Leamon
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis, California
Gantt P. Galloway
- California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, California
Christy Waters
- Kaiser Chemical Dependence Recovery Program, Sacramento, California.
Charles D. Moore
- Kaiser Chemical Dependence Recovery Program, Sacramento, California.
Michael H. Buonocore
- Imaging Research Center, University of California, Davis, California
- Department of Radiology, University of California, Davis, California

Received 2 February 2006; received in revised form 11 July 2006; accepted 13 July 2006. published online 13 November 2006.

Background

Methamphetamine abuse is associated with neurotoxicity to frontostriatal brain regions with concomitant deleterious effects on cognitive processes.

Methods

By using a computerized measure of selective attention and single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we examined the relationship between attentional control and brain metabolite levels in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and primary visual cortex (PVC) in 36 currently abstinent methamphetamine abusers and 16 non–substance-using controls.

Results

The methamphetamine abusers exhibited reduced attentional control (i.e., increased Stroop interference) compared with the controls (p = .04). Bonferroni-adjusted comparisons revealed that ACC levels of N-acetyl aspartate (NAA)–creatine and phosphocreatine (Cr) were lower and that levels of choline (Cho)–NAA were higher in the methamphetamine abusers compared with the controls, at the adjusted p value of .0125. Levels of NAA-Cr, but not of Cho-NAA, within the ACC correlated with measures of attentional control in the methamphetamine abusers (r = −.41; p = .01) but not in controls (r = .22; p = .42). No significant correlations were observed in the PVC (methamphetamine abusers, r = .19; p = .28, controls, r = .38; p = .15).

Conclusions

Changes in neurochemicals within frontostriatal brain regions including ACC may contribute to deficits in attentional control among chronic methamphetamine abusers.

Key Words: Anterior cingulate cortex, attention, imaging, methamphetamine, MRS, NAA, Stroop