Abnormal functional connectivity and effective connectivity between the default mode network and attention networks...

Patients with alcohol-use disorder (AUD) demonstrate dysfunctional cerebral network connectivity. However, limited studies have investigated attention systems in AUD.

To assess functional (FC) and effective connectivity (EC) in the dorsal (DAN) and ventral attention networks (VAN) and default mode network (DMN) in patients with AUD using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).

MRI and rs-fMRI data were obtained from 28 men with AUD and 30 age-matched healthy controls. Independent component analysis was used to identify and extract network data, for comparison between the two groups. Effective connectivity was evaluated using Granger causality analysis (GCA) by selecting significantly different brain areas as regions of interest (ROI). Signed-path coefficients between ROIs were computed in bivariate mode.

In patients with AUD, FC decreased in the left superior parietal gurus (SPG) and left interparietal sulcus (IPS, in DAN); FC decreased in the right superior frontal gyrus (SPG) and right middle frontal gyrus (MFG, in DMN). GCA values indicated that the DMN exerts a positive causal effect on the DAN (P = 0.007/0.027), which consequently exerts a negative causal effect on the DMN (P = 0.032). Signed-path coefficients from the right MFG to the left IPS correlated negatively with MAST scores (P = 0.015).

We found novel inter-network connectivity dysfunction in patients with AUD, which indicates abnormal causal relations between resting-state DAN and DMN. Thus, patients with AUD may have abnormal top-down attention modulation and cognition.