Fuchun Lin1, Guangyao Wu2, Shiqi Yang2, Haopeng Peng2, Prasanna Ghimire2, Ling Zhu2, Guobing Liu2, Hao Lei1
1State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China; 2Department of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
Tract-based spatial statistics was used to investigate white matter integrity in heavy smokers. Compared to healthy non-smokers, smokers show abnormalities in the left anterior corpus callosum connecting the bilateral orbifrontal and prefrontal cortices. The decreased FA in this region was reflected by decreased axial diffusivity and increased radial diffusivity, which is probably caused by axonal loss and disrupted integrity of myelin. Moreover, in smokers, radial diffusivity in the left anterior corpus callosum was positively correlated with the duration of smoking. Our findings suggested that longer exposure to cigarette smoking is associated with decreased microstructural integrity of the left anterior corpus callosum in smokers.