Brain connectivity may mediate the risk for cannabis use disorder, providing a potential target for early intervention, according to the results of a new study.
The research, employing dynamic functional connectivity analysis through resting-state functional MRI, indicates significant differences in brain network dynamics between patients at risk for cannabis use disorder and control patients.
The study, published in Addiction Biology, assessed 94 patients stratified by their risk level for developing cannabis use disorder (CUD) based on scores from a self-screening questionnaire, the Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Test-Revised (CUDIT-R). The analysis focused on time-varying patterns of brain connectivity involving various networks, including sensory-motor, visual, cognitive-control, and default-mode networks.
At-risk patients experience prolonged periods in connectivity states characterized by enhanced internal connectivity but diminished interactions between networks, according to study investigators. This pattern indicates a decrease in the brain's adaptive flexibility, which is essential for effective cognitive and emotional processing.
The prolonged states of altered connectivity in patients at high risk for CUD suggest a potential neurobiological pathway through which cannabis use may lead to disorder manifestations, they noted. The identification of such patterns provides a basis for developing targeted pharmacological and neurostimulation treatments aimed at normalizing these atypical connectivity states before the progression to CUD.
"This is the first study to evaluate dynamic connectivity in individuals at risk for CUD. We have shown that individuals at risk for CUD present, early in the course of cannabis use, a global alteration of the dynamics of brain network interplay with specific changes in subcortical and cortical circuits," the investigator concluded.
Future investigations are warranted to correlate these neuroimaging findings with clinical outcomes and to explore therapeutic interventions that could preemptively address these connectivity alterations.
The researchers reported no financial conflicts of interest.
