Exploring spontaneous brain activity changes in high-altitude smokers: Insights from ALFF/fALFF analysis
Qingqing Lv1, Chunxiao Bu2, Hui Xu3
1Department of Radiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
Brain and Cognition
|October 9, 2024
Summary
High-altitude smokers exhibit altered intrinsic brain activity, particularly in frontal regions, compared to non-smokers. These findings reveal unique neural characteristics associated with smoking in high-altitude environments.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- High-altitude physiology
- Addiction research
Background:
- Smoking is linked to brain alterations, but its effects on intrinsic brain activity in high-altitude (HA) populations are not well understood.
- Investigating neural differences in HA smokers is crucial for understanding addiction mechanisms in unique environmental contexts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the impact of smoking on intrinsic brain activity in high-altitude populations.
- To identify specific neural characteristics of smokers residing at high altitudes.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations (ALFF) and fractional ALFF (fALFF) methods on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data.
- Compared brain activity between 31 HA smokers and 31 HA non-smokers across different frequency bands.
- Conducted correlation analyses between brain activity metrics and smoking duration.
Main Results:
- Smokers showed increased ALFF in multiple frontal regions, including the right superior frontal gyrus (R-SFG) and right middle frontal gyrus (R-MFG).
- Specific sub-frequency bands revealed increased ALFF in areas like R-SFG and R-MFG, with decreased fALFF in the right postcentral and precentral gyrus.
- A negative correlation was observed between ALFF in the R-SFG and the number of years smoking.
Conclusions:
- Smoking significantly alters intrinsic brain activity in high-altitude populations, particularly within frontal brain regions.
- These findings offer novel insights into the neural underpinnings of high-altitude smoking addiction.
- The results may guide the development of targeted interventions for smoking cessation in HA environments.
