Abnormalities in Regional Brain Volumes in Adolescent Methamphetamine Users

George Russell King¹, Dan Alicata², Christine Cloak¹, Thomas Ernst¹, Irene Chin¹, Linda Chang¹

The present study evaluates changes in cortical and subcortical brain volumes in female adolescent METH users, which represent an understudied population. Consistent with adult METH users, adolescents have enlarged striatal and limbic regions. In contrast to adults, however, adolescents show reduced cerebral gray matter volumes, with no alteration in cortical white matter. The reductions in subcortical volumes might have contributed to their poorer psychomotor performance, since we observed a correlation between putamen volume and the digit symbol task. Further analyses of the data will include a larger sample size, and comparing male and female METH users.