• Nabi Zorlu, Maria Angelique Di Biase, Çiğdem Çolak Kalaycı, Andrew Zalesky, Başak Bağcı, Nihan Oğuz, Fazıl Gelal, Lütfullah Beşiroğlu, Şeref Gülseren, Aybala Sarıçiçek, Emre Bora, and Christos Pantelis.
• Department of Psychiatry, Katip Celebi University, Ataturk Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey. Electronic address: zorlunabi@hotmail.com.
• Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2016 Nov 1; 26 (11): 1818-1825.

AbstractSynthetic cannabinoids have become increasingly popular in the last few years especially among adolescents and young adults. However, no previous studies have assessed the effects of synthetic cannabinoids on the structure of the human brain. Understanding the harms of synthetic cannabinoid use on brain structure is therefore crucial given its increasing use. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed in 22 patients who used synthetic cannabinoids more than five times a week for at least 1 year and 18 healthy controls. Fractional anisotropy (FA) was significantly reduced in the cannabinoid group compared to controls in a cluster of white matter voxels spanning the left temporal lobe, subcortical structures and brainstem. This cluster was predominantly traversed by the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, fornix, cingulum-hippocampus and corticospinal tracts. Long-term use of synthetic cannabinoids is associated with white matter abnormalities in adolescents and young adults. Disturbed brain connectivity in synthetic cannabinoid users may underlie cognitive impairment and vulnerability to psychosis.Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

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