Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci.  2024 Feb;22(1):105-117. 10.9758/cpn.23.1079.

The Association between Default-mode Network Functional Connectivity and Childhood Trauma on the Symptom Load in Male Adults with Methamphetamine Use Disorder

• Wei SY
• Tsai TH
• Tsai TY
• Chen PS
• Tseng HH
• Yang YK
• Zhai T
• Yang Y
• Wang TY

• KMID: 2553616
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.9758/cpn.23.1079

Abstract

Objective
The relationship between adverse childhood experiences and methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) has been shown in previous studies; nevertheless, the underlying neural mechanisms remain elusive. Childhood trauma is associated with aberrant functional connectivity (FC) within the default-mode network (DMN). Furthermore, within the DMN, FC may contribute to impaired self-awareness in addiction, while cross-network FC is critical for relapse. We aimed to investigate whether childhood trauma was associated with DMN-related resting-state FC among healthy controls and patients with MUD and to examine whether DMN-related FC affected the effect of childhood trauma on the symptom load of MUD diagnosis.
Methods
Twenty-seven male patients with MUD and 27 male healthy controls were enrolled and completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. DMN-related resting-state FC was examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Results
There were 47.1% healthy controls and 66.7% MUD patients in this study with adverse childhood experiences. Negative correlations between adverse childhood experiences and within-DMN FC were observed in both healthy controls and MUD patients, while within-DMN FC was significantly altered in MUD patients. The detrimental effects of adverse childhood experiences on MUD patients may be attenuated through DMN-executive control networks (ECN) FC.
Conclusion
Adverse childhood experiences were negatively associated with within-DMN FC in MUD patients and healthy controls. However, DMN-ECN FC may attenuate the effects of childhood trauma on symptoms load of MUD.

Keyword

Amphetamines; Adverse childhood experiences; Default mode network; Magnetic resonance imaging; Mediation analysis