Journal article
Gross morphological brain changes with chronic, heavy cannabis use
V Lorenzetti, N Solowij, S Whittle, A Fornito, DI Lubman, C Pantelis, M Yücel
British Journal of Psychiatry | ROYAL COLLEGE OF PSYCHIATRISTS | Published : 2015
Abstract
We investigated the morphology of multiple brain regions in a rare sample of 15 very heavy cannabis users with minimal psychiatric comorbidity or significant exposure to other substances (compared with 15 age- and IQ-matched non-cannabis-using controls) using manual techniques. Heavy cannabis users demonstrated smaller hippocampus and amygdala volumes, but no alterations of the orbitofrontal and anterior- and paracingulate cortices, or the pituitary gland. These findings indicate that chronic cannabis use has a selective and detrimental impact on the morphology of the mediotemporal lobe.
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Funding Acknowledgements
This study was supported by grants from the Clive and Vera Ramaciotti Foundation, the Schizophrenia Research Institute using infrastructure funding from NSW Health, the University of Wollongong and the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT110100752) (N S.), the Monash University Bridging Post-doctoral Fellowship, Monash University (V.L.); NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (S.W.), the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT130100589) (A F.); the NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship (ID: 628386) and NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award (C.P.) and the NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship (M.Y).