Brain Regions Affected by Impaired Control Modulate Responses to Alcohol and Smoking Cues

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Objective: Despite the commonly observed comorbidity of alcohol and tobacco use disorders and years of research, the mechanism underlying concurrent use of alcohol and tobacco is not yet clear. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the relationship between brain responses to alcohol and smoking cues in 45 subjects with episodic drinking and regular smoking. Method: fMRI data were collected from two studies performing an alcohol-craving task and a smoking-craving task. First, we identifi ed brain voxels signifi cantly activated for both substance cues and then associated the activation of these voxels with various alcohol-and nicotine-dependence measures. Signifi cant clusters (cluster-wise p < .05) correlated with behavioral assessments were extracted, and clusters identifi ed from both cues were compared. Results: The association tests with various dependence scores showed that the loss of behavioral control subcategory in the Alcohol Dependence Scale was signifi cantly correlated with brain activation of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and right posterior insula regardless of cue types. Conclusions: Our fi ndings suggest that the PCC and right posterior insula, each playing a role in the salience network, are affected signifi cantly by impaired control for alcohol and in turn infl uence brain responses to not only alcohol but also smoking cues, providing insight to neuronal mechanisms for concurrent use or comorbidity of alcohol and nicotine dependence. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 75, 808-816, 2014)

Brain Structure Alterations in Respect to Tobacco Consumption and Nicotine Dependence: A Comparative Voxel-Based Morphometry Study

“…In addition, the right inferior frontal gyrus and middle frontal gyrus have been reported to play roles in attentive control and reorientation ( Hampshire et al, 2010 ; Japee et al, 2015 ), which may be directly associated with smoking behavior and their volumes were found negative correlations with the pack-years. Moreover, the MTG and posterior cingulate cortex ( Wang et al, 2017 ), the STG ( Ettinger et al, 2009 ) and the middle occipital gyrus ( Liu et al, 2014 ) have been reported to be associated with the nicotine dependence, and their volumes were also found significantly correlated with the FTND score in this study. Specifically, the cerebellum anterior lobe, which is part of the cerebellum, is traditionally thought to be responsible for motor control and has particularly been focused on in smokers ( Kühn et al, 2012 ; Huang et al, 2017 ).…”

CREB-BDNF pathway influences alcohol cue-elicited activation in drinkers

“…PCC is a key player in the saline network (Sutherland et al, 2012) and frequently implicated in the processing of drug-related stimuli (Tapert et al, 2004; Wrase et al, 2007). Its functional alteration has proven to underlie the concurrent use of alcohol and tobacco (Liu et al, 2014). Of particular interest, as shown in a meta-analysis on fMRI studies of alcohol cue reactivity, brain activation in precuneus and PCC, instead of the mesolimbic system, most effectively differentiates cases from controls in terms of alcohol use severity (Schacht et al, 2013).…”

Genetic variation withinGRIN2Bin adolescents with alcohol use disorder may be associated with larger left posterior cingulate cortex volume

“…In other words, children and adolescents’ behaviour are influenced strongly by reward processes, whereas as we age and the prefrontal cortex develops, there is a greater attempt by executive functions to modulate reward and impulsive responses to stimuli such as alcohol. Increased posterior cingulate cortex activation positively correlates with a loss of behavioural control over alcohol in response to craving cues in individuals exposed to alcohol (26). While it is still not entirely clear as to how the posterior cingulate cortex contributes to AUD in adolescents; the volume of this region appears to differ in in relation to variation in GRIN2B .…”