Researchers studied the altered brain structure of adolescent Internet addicts using magnetic resonance imaging methods and analyzed the brain diffusion tensor images of adolescent Internet addicts using a fiber bundle-based spatial statistics approach. The study found microstructural damage in some white matter fiber tracts (including regions of the corpus callosum, external capsule, internal capsule, radial corona, and cingulate) in the brains of Internet addicted patients. More importantly, the researchers found that the degree of damage to the left corpus callosum knee in internet addicted patients was significantly correlated with their level of anxiety. In addition, the pattern of damage to the white matter of the internal and external capsules in Internet-addicted patients was very similar to that of opiate-dependent patients, and the degree of damage to the left external capsule was significantly correlated with the severity of the patients’ Internet addiction. According to the report, the researchers also used voxel-based morphological methods to analyze the changes in gray matter volume in the brains of adolescent Internet addicted patients and found significant atrophy in the left lingual gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex, anterior thalamus, left insula and anterior cingulate cortex. These results showed that the gray matter and white matter of the brains of adolescent Internet addicted patients showed structural changes, and such changes were mainly biased toward the left hemisphere, which is responsible for logical understanding, judgment, and reasoning. These research results provide an important theoretical basis for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of adolescent Internet addiction. Lei Hao told China Science News that the formation of substance dependence and addiction is closely related to altered neuroplasticity. Adolescence is a critical period for the development of control and executive functions in the brain, and studying the plasticity changes in brain structure and function associated with adolescent Internet addiction is important for gaining insight into the pathogenesis of the disease and exploring treatment/rehabilitation options.