Smoker's brain
10 Nov 2010 by Evoluted New Media
Does smoking lead to a thinning of a specific region of the cerebral cortex, or are people with a thinner cortex more inclined to become smokers – that was the question scientists in Germany hoped to answer.
Does smoking lead to a thinning of a specific region of the cerebral cortex, or are people with a thinner cortex more inclined to become smokers – that was the question scientists in Germany hoped to answer.
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| Does smoking cause a thinning of the cerebral cortex? |
Using magnetic resonance tomography, scientists from Physikalisch-Technische Bundesansalt (PTB) studied the brain of 22 smokers and 21 people who never smoked. They generated high-resolution three-dimensional images of the brain structure and – aided by colleagues at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin – compared the thickness of the cortex.
Researchers found that the thickness of the medial orbito-frontal cortex – an area of the brain decisive for reward, impulse control and making decisions – is, on average, thinner in smokers than in non smokers. They also discovered that the thickness decreased in relation to the increase in daily consumptions of cigarettes and how long the participants had smoked for.
However, cause and effect are still not clear – although animal experiments show that nicotine changes the development of the brain and damages neurocytes, researchers cannot rule out that the reduced thickness of the frontal cortex region found in the participants existed before they started smoking. It could be that there is a genetically condition predisposition for nicotine dependence.
Scientists hope to clarify whether smoking leads to a thinner orbito-frontal cortex or vice versa through further investigation. They also hope to study whether the brain structure of smokers can become normal again after they have given up smoking.
