Difference between smokers and non-smokers in the corpus callosum volume

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of smoking on corpus callosum volume. In addition, the relationships between smoking duration, smoking frequency, and corpus callosum volume were analyzed. Magnetic resonance brain images were acquired for 58 normal Korean men (30 smokers (age 32.82±14.12 years) and 28 non-smokers (age 35.49±13.11 years)). The corpus callosum volume was measured using Brain Voyager 2000S/W and was normalized by intracranical volume, which was calculated using cerebral sizes. The corpus callosum volume for smokers was significantly smaller than that for non-smokers. Also, there was a negative correlation between corpus callosum volume and smoking duration. The change of white matter volume (e.g., corpus callosum) might be a primary factor for characterizing the effects of smoking.