Reward-Related Dorsal Striatal Activity Differences between Former and Current Cocaine Dependent Individuals during an Interactive Competitive Game

Abstract

Cocaine addiction is characterized by impulsivity, impaired social relationships, and abnormal mesocorticolimbic reward processing, but their interrelationships relative to stages of cocaine addiction are unclear. We assessed blood-oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) signal in ventral and dorsal striatum during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in current (CCD; n = 30) and former (FCD; n = 28) cocaine dependent subjects as well as healthy control (HC; n = 31) subjects while playing an interactive competitive Domino game involving risk-taking and reward/punishment processing. Out-of-scanner impulsivity-related measures were also collected. Although both FCD and CCD subjects scored significantly higher on impulsivity-related measures than did HC subjects, only FCD subjects had differences in striatal activation, specifically showing hypoactivation during their response to gains versus losses in right dorsal caudate, a brain region linked to habituation, cocaine craving and addiction maintenance. Right caudate activity in FCD subjects also correlated negatively with impulsivity-related measures of self-reported compulsivity and sensitivity to reward. These findings suggest that remitted cocaine dependence is associated with striatal dysfunction during social reward processing in a manner linked to compulsivity and reward sensitivity measures. Future research should investigate the extent to which such differences might reflect underlying vulnerabilities linked to cocaine-using propensities (e.g., relapses).

Temporal profile of fronto-striatal-limbic activity during implicit decisions in drug dependence

“…During the outcome phase of decision-making, SDI had lower activity than controls in all five ROIs, consistent with previous studies (Hyatt et al, 2012;Jia et al, 2011;Nestor et al, 2010;Wesley et al, 2011). It has been suggested that lower activity in these regions reflects lower sensitivity to negative feedback in drug users.…”

“…Results have also been inconsistent for the feedback phase. Compared to controls, drug users showed less activity in striatal-limbic regions during feedback (Hyatt et al, 2012;Nestor et al, 2010;Wesley et al, 2011), suggesting that drug users have less sensitivity to reward outcomes. In contrast, other studies report greater striatal and insula activity in drug (Jia et al, 2011) and alcohol (Bjork et al, 2008) users compared to controls during outcomes, suggesting the opposite possibility, namely that drug users have greater sensitivity to reward outcomes.…”

“…In contrast, event-related fMRI can model brain activity during different phases of the decision-making process. By inserting a delay between the decision and outcome, investigators have separated neural activity during these phases of the decision-making process (Hyatt et al, 2012;Jia et al, 2011;Nestor et al, 2010;Wesley et al, 2011). One study showed greater striatal activity in drug users compared to controls during the early phase of decision-making, suggesting that drug users had a heightened sensitivity to reward anticipation (Nestor et al, 2010).…”

Hypoactivation of the Ventral and Dorsal Striatum During Reward and Loss Anticipation in Antipsychotic and Mood Stabilizer-Naive Bipolar Disorder

“…The VS has long been implicated in the processing of both rewarding and aversive stimuli and decreased BOLD response within the VS has been identified as a putative biological marker for vulnerability to substance use in adolescents (Peters et al, 2011). Similarly, data implicate the DS in the neurobiology of both mood-and substance-related disorders (Vollstadt-Klein et al, 2010;Hyatt et al, 2012;Dager et al, 2013;Gabbay et al, 2013;Tomasi and Volkow, 2013;Xu et al, 2014). The DS is further involved in reward-related learning and is thought to have a role in substance misuse and addictions relapse (Everitt and Robbins, 2005;Volkow et al, 2006).…”

“…Previous studies of reward processing in both BD and addictions have generally focused on the ventral component of the striatum, however a growing body of literature also implicates the dorsal striatum (DS) in the neurobiology of substance-and mood-related disorders (Vollstadt-Klein et al, 2010;Hyatt et al, 2012;Moses-Kolko et al, 2012). Thus, a further aim of this study was to assess neural activations within both the dorsal and ventral components of this region.…”