Brain Marker Links Stress and Nicotine Abstinence

Abstract

Background Subjective stress is a well-documented predictor of early smoking relapse, yet our understanding of stress and tobacco use is limited by reliance on self-reported measures of stress. We utilized a validated functional neuroimaging paradigm to examine whether stress exposure during early abstinence alters objective measures of brain function. Methods Seventy-five participants underwent blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST) on two occasions: once during smoking satiety and once following biochemically confirmed 24-hour abstinence (order counterbalanced). The primary outcome measure was brain response during stress (vs. control) blocks of the MIST, assessed using whole-brain analysis corrected for multiple comparisons using clusters determined by Z ≥ 3.1. Results Abstinence (vs. satiety) was associated with significantly increased activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus, a brain region associated with inhibitory control. Abstinence-induced change in brain response to stress was positively associated with change in self-reported stress. Conclusions This study provides objective evidence that the brain response to stress is altered during the first 24 hours of a quit attempt compared to smoking satiety. Implications These results point to the potential value of inoculating smokers with stress management training prior to a quit attempt.

Electronic Cigarette Vaping Did Not Enhance the Neural Process of Working Memory for Regular Cigarette Smokers

“…The number of participants was relatively low; thus, we have performed the p-value correction via random permutations when identifying ROIs and p-value correction as well as bootstrapping when analyzing the association between the RT and neuronal activations. Despite our effort to alleviate the weakness of a relatively small sample size, future research recruiting more participants is warranted to evaluate the brain regions associated with the stress response with potentially greater statistical significance than our results (Allenby et al, 2020). In addition, the distribution of our relatively small samples may deviate from population normal distribution; accordingly, we applied random permutation and non-parametric bootstrapping with replacement to resolve the potential bias of statistical inference (Briggs et al, 1997;Barber and Thompson, 2000;Simar and Wilson, 2000;Saha et al, 2018).…”

Measurement of stress response in laboratory settings – a review of studies using stress induction protocols

“…Analiza dostępnych prac wskazuje, że MIST jest najczęściej stosowany do oceny czynnościowej aktywności mózgu [20][21][22][23][24]. Wykorzystuje się także pomiar reakcji skórno-galwanicznej [20,22] i miary subiektywne [21].…”

Magnetic resonance imaging for smoking abstinence: symptoms, mechanisms, and interventions

“…The Montreal Imaging Stress Task is a psychosocial stress task that requires solving difficult mental arithmetic problems while receiving negative performance feedback. Researchers have found that taking the Montreal Imaging Stress Task while undergoing fMRI not only increased subjective measures of stress [55] but also induced significantly greater activation in the inferior frontal gyrus, ACC, precuneus, and supramarginal gyrus in deprived smokers (24 hours of abstinence compared with the satiety state) [56] and non-deprived smokers [55] (Table 1). Further correlation results revealed that an abstinence-induced change in the brain response to stress is positively associated with a change in self-reported stress [56].…”

“…Researchers have found that taking the Montreal Imaging Stress Task while undergoing fMRI not only increased subjective measures of stress [55] but also induced significantly greater activation in the inferior frontal gyrus, ACC, precuneus, and supramarginal gyrus in deprived smokers (24 hours of abstinence compared with the satiety state) [56] and non-deprived smokers [55] (Table 1). Further correlation results revealed that an abstinence-induced change in the brain response to stress is positively associated with a change in self-reported stress [56]. Therefore, investigating stress-related activation during nicotine withdrawal may identify those who are most vulnerable to relapse and represent a target for novel pharmacological intervention.…”