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Research & Reviews: A Journal of Bioinformatics

Standardization of Structural and Functional Brain Integration in Cannabis Users

  1. Tshetiz Dahal
  2. Dhiraj Prasad Shah

Abstract

Cannabis is one of the most widely used and commercialized illegal drugs worldwide, notably amid young adults. The neurobiological mechanisms of cannabis, particularly in adolescents, have yet to be identified. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate a cohort of 73 cannabis users (aged 22–36years, 19 females) and his 73 healthy controls (aged 22–36, females). We observed some momentous differences in local structural/functional network measures (such as grade along with clustering coefficient), extended in the insular and anterior cranial cortices, and in the lateral/medial temporalcortex. An abundant structural network of clubs showed a normal tendency to distribute in the bilateral frontal, temporal, and occipital regions. The superior and inferior temporal gyri of the two groups did, however, show a few minor variations. Functionally rich clavate nodes were located primarily in theparietal and posterior regions, with minor differences between the groups that were found primarily in the centrotemporal and parietal regions. In multiple regions, regional network metrics of structural/functional networks have been linked to time of cannabis use. No significant differences were found in global network measures between cannabis users and the healthy control group. Additionally, there was no association observed between cannabis use and structural or functional networks. Both groups exhibited small-world properties in their networks. With the exception of the link between termination within the subicule area and time of cannabis use, all significant associations between network measures and time of cannabis use were determined to be nonsignificant after false discovery rate adjustment. In conclusion, findings of the present study showed that local topological characteristics of structural and functional networks were altered in cannabis users, but overall brain network structure was unaltered

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