Structural brain correlates of alcohol and cannabis use in recreational users

Abstract

Background: Previous studies on substance-dependent populations have shown that age of first use and duration of use are associated with alterations in regional brain volumes. However, it is not clear whether such alterations are factors that predispose young people to use, and so are also present in recreational users, or are a consequence of chronic exposure to substances and/or comorbid psychopathology. Objective: To investigate relationships between key brain structures and parameters of alcohol and cannabis use, in otherwise healthy male recreational users. Method: High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure hippocampal, amygdala, whole-brain and intracranial cavity (..