IMR Press / JIN / Volume 21 / Issue 4 / DOI: 10.31083/j.jin2104101
Open Access Original Research
Aberrant callosal morphology in ex-smokers
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1 School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 1010 Auckland, New Zealand
2 Centre for Brain Research, Department of Anatomy and Medical Imaging, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, 1023 Auckland, New Zealand
3 Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, 75185 Uppsala, Sweden
4 Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
*Correspondence: f.kurth@auckland.ac.nz (Florian Kurth)
Academic Editor: Rafael Franco
J. Integr. Neurosci. 2022, 21(4), 101; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.jin2104101
Submitted: 28 December 2021 | Revised: 22 January 2022 | Accepted: 24 January 2022 | Published: 30 May 2022
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Cigarette smoking is associated with widespread structural alterations in both brain hemispheres as well as of the corpus callosum (i.e., the brain’s main interhemispheric white matter pathway). While similar hemispheric alterations have also been reported in ex-smokers, no study has yet examined the corpus callosum in ex-smokers. Methods: We compared callosal morphology in a sample of 107 ex-smokers (57 males/50 females) and 193 non-smokers (73 males/120 females), aged between 42 and 97 years. More specifically, we measured the total callosal area as well as seven callosal subregions using the Witelson parcellation scheme. Results: At uncorrected levels, we detected significantly smaller callosal areas in ex-smokers than in non-smokers within the posterior midbody, genu, and isthmus (albeit the latter only on a trend level). When applying corrections for multiple comparisons, only the effect within the posterior midbody remained significant. Conclusions: Our findings suggest a weaker interhemispheric connectivity in ex-smokers compared to non-smokers, specifically between frontal and temporal areas.

Keywords
brain
corpus callosum
ex-smokers
posterior midbody
smoking
structural MRI
white matter
Figures
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