Key result
Alcohol dependence linked to reduced thalamocortical connectivity mediating sleep impairments.
Why the study?
Alcohol dependence is associated with poor sleep quality and thalamocortical circuit dysfunction, but the role of these circuits in the alcohol-sleep association is unclear.
Does alcohol dependence alter thalamocortical resting-state functional connectivity and mediate sleep impairment in abstinent males?
Case-Control (n=30)
Does alcohol dependence alter thalamocortical resting-state functional connectivity and mediate sleep impairment in abstinent males?
Alcohol dependence is associated with abnormal thalamocortical circuit interactions that mediate the relationship between drinking behaviors and sleep impairments.
May link thalamocortical dysconnectivity to sleep impairment in abstinent alcohol-dependent males; hypothesis-generating and requires prospective confirmation.
Alcohol dependence is associated with poor sleep quality, which has both been implicated with thalamocortical circuits function. To identify the possible roles of these circuits in the alcohol-sleep association, we investigated the volume of both left and right thalamus and corresponding resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) differences between 15 alcohol-dependent patients (AD) and 15 healthy controls (HC) male participants. The neuroimaging findings were then correlated with clinical variables, that is, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Additionally, mediation analysis was carried out to test whether the thalamocortical RSFC mediates the relationship between drinking behavior and sleep impairments in AD when applicable. We observed a significant positive correlation between AUDIT score and PSQI score in AD. Compared with HC, AD showed reduced RSFC between the left thalamus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and right caudate. We also observed a negative correlation between RSFC of the left thalamus-mPFC and PSQI score in AD. More importantly, the left thalamus-mPFC RSFC strength mediated the relationship between AUDIT score and PSQI score in AD. No significant difference was detected in the normalized volume of both left and right thalamus, and volumes were not significantly correlated with clinical variables. Our results demonstrate that AD show abnormal interactions within thalamocortical circuits in association with drinking behaviors and sleep impairments. It is hoped that our study focusing on thalamocortical circuits could provide new information on potential novel therapeutic targets for treatment of sleep impairment in alcohol-dependent patients.
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Liu et al. (2019) conducted a case-control in Alcohol dependence (n=30). Alcohol dependence vs. Healthy controls was evaluated on Thalamocortical resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and its correlation with sleep impairment. Alcohol dependence was associated with reduced resting-state functional connectivity between the left thalamus and medial prefrontal cortex, which mediated sleep impairments.
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