Grey matter abnormalities in methcathinone abusers with a Parkinsonian syndrome.
Juurmaa J., Menke RAL., Vila P., Müürsepp A., Tomberg T., Ilves P., Nigul M., Johansen-Berg H., Donaghy M., Stagg CJ., Stepens A., Taba P.
BACKGROUND: A permanent Parkinsonian syndrome occurs in intravenous abusers of the designer psychostimulant methcathinone (ephedrone). It is attributed to deposition of contaminant manganese, as reflected by characteristic globus pallidus hyperintensity on T1-weighted MRI. METHODS: We have investigated brain structure and function in methcathinone abusers (n = 12) compared to matched control subjects (n = 12) using T1-weighted structural and resting-state functional MRI. RESULTS: Segmentation analysis revealed significant (p