Disrupted topological organization in whole-brain functional networks of heroin-dependent individuals: a resting-state FMRI study

• Published in: PloS one 2013-12, Vol.8 (12), p.e82715
• Main Authors: Jiang, Guihua, Wen, Xue, Qiu, Yingwei, Zhang, Ruibin, Wang, Junjing, Li, Meng, Ma, Xiaofen, Tian, Junzhang, Huang, Ruiwang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abnormalities; Addiction; Addictions; Adult; Brain; Brain - pathology; Brain - physiopathology; Brain architecture; Brain mapping; Brain Mapping - methods; Brain research; Case-Control Studies; Clustering; Cognitive ability; Comparative analysis; Cortex (parietal); Drug abuse; Drug addiction; Female; Frontal gyrus; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Functional morphology; Graph theory; Heroin; Heroin Dependence - diagnosis; Heroin Dependence - pathology; Heroin Dependence - physiopathology; Hippocampus; Humans; Image acquisition; Magnetic resonance; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Medical imaging; Methadone; Middle Aged; Narcotics; Nerve Net - physiopathology; Networks; Neural networks; Neuroimaging; Neurology; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Rest; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082715

Neuroimaging studies have shown that heroin addiction is related to abnormalities in widespread local regions and in the functional connectivity of the brain. However, little is known about whether heroin addiction changes the topological organization of whole-brain functional networks. Seventeen heroin-dependent individuals (HDIs) and 15 age-, gender-matched normal controls (NCs) were enrolled, and the resting-state functional magnetic resonance images (RS-fMRI) were acquired from these subjects. We constructed the brain functional networks of HDIs and NCs, and compared the between-group differences in network topological properties using graph theory method. We found that the HDIs showed decreases in the normalized clustering coefficient and in small-worldness compared to the NCs. Furthermore, the HDIs exhibited significantly decreased nodal centralities primarily in regions of cognitive control network, including the bilateral middle cingulate gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, and right precuneus, but significantly increased nodal centralities primarily in the left hippocampus. The between-group differences in nodal centralities were not corrected by multiple comparisons suggesting these should be considered as an exploratory analysis. Moreover, nodal centralities in the left hippocampus were positively correlated with the duration of heroin addiction. Overall, our results indicated that disruptions occur in the whole-brain functional networks of HDIs, findings which may be helpful in further understanding the mechanisms underlying heroin addiction.