It is Never as Good the Second Time Around: Brain Areas Involved in Salience Processing Habituate During Repeated Drug Cue Exposure in Treatment Engaged Abstinent Methamphetamine and Opioid Users

Theories of addiction posit that stimuli associated with drug use, including both exteroceptive (e.g., paraphernalia) and interoceptive (e.g., feeling tense or stressed), evoke craving and contribute to the pathogenesis of substance misuse. Control over drug cue response and stress is essential for moderating use. Building from laboratory data supporting associations between cue exposure, stress, and craving, this study tested whether these associations generalize to real-world settings and examined whether a well-vetted neurocognitive control capacity (i.e., working memory, or WM) moderated associations. Youths ( N = 85; 15–24 years old) completed baseline and ecological momentary assessments. Cue exposure and participants’ average stress predicted higher craving. Youths with weaker WM experienced stronger craving at higher-stress moments but not when faced with cues. Interactions were present for both previous-moment and same-moment stress. Craving among adolescents with stronger WM was not swayed by momentary stress. Findings suggest that stronger WM protects against craving at more stressful moments.

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“Destined for success”? Brain responses during drug cue exposure foretell clinical outcome in cocaine patients

Drug and Alcohol Dependence ◽

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.09.136 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 146 ◽

pp. e246

Author(s):

Anna R. Childress ◽

Jesse Suh ◽

K. Jagannathan ◽

Kimberly A. Young ◽

Teresa Franklin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Clinical Outcome ◽

Cue Exposure ◽

Brain Responses ◽

Drug Cue

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Commentary on Buckfield et al . (2020): The alcohol or drug cue exposure treatment paradox?

Addiction ◽

10.1111/add.15285 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Angelina Isabella Mellentin

Keyword(s):

Cue Exposure ◽

Exposure Treatment ◽

Cue Exposure Treatment ◽

Drug Cue

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It is Never as Good the Second Time Around: Brain Areas Involved in Salience Processing Habituate During Repeated Drug Cue Exposure in Methamphetamine and Opioid Users

10.1101/2020.04.18.036368 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hamed Ekhtiari ◽

Rayus Kuplicki ◽

Robin P Aupperle ◽

Martin P. Paulus

Keyword(s):

Ventral Striatum ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Cue Reactivity ◽

Opioid Use ◽

Brain Response ◽

Cue Exposure ◽

Addiction Medicine ◽

Discovery Sample ◽

Drug Cue ◽

Clinical Populations

AbstractIntroductionThe brain response to drug-related cues is an important marker in addiction-medicine, however, the temporal dynamics of this response in repeated exposure to the cues are not well known yet. In an fMRI drug cue-reactivity task, the presence of rapid habituation or sensitization was investigated by modeling time and its interaction with condition (drug>neutral) using an initial discovery-sample. Replication of this temporal response was tested in two other clinical populations.MethodsSixty-five male participants (35.8±8.4 years-old) with methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) were recruited as the discovery-sample. A linear mixed effects model was used to identify areas with a time-by-condition interaction in the discovery-sample. Replication of these effects was tested in two other samples (29 female with MUD and 22 male with opioid use disorder). The second replication-sample was re-tested within two weeks.ResultsIn the discovery-sample, clusters within the VMPFC, amygdala and ventral striatum showed both significant condition and condition-by-time interaction with a habituation response for the drug-related cues but not neutral cues. The estimates for the main effects and interactions were generally consistent between the discovery and replication-samples across all clusters. The re-test data showed consistent lack of drug>neutral and habituation response within all selected clusters in the second cue-exposure session.ConclusionsVMPFC, amygdala and ventral striatum show a habituation in response to drug-related cues which is consistent among different clinical populations. Habituation in response in the first session of cue-exposure and lack of reactivity in the second session of exposure provide foundations for development of cue-desensitization interventions.

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How Top-Down and Bottom-Up Regulation in Fronto-Amygdalar Network Changes over Time during Drug Cue-Exposure: An fMRI Study among Abstinent Heroin User

10.1101/678961 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Arash Zare-Sadeghi ◽

Mohammad Ali Oghabian ◽

Mehran Zare-Bidoky ◽

Seyed Amir Hossein Batouli ◽

Hamed Ekhtiari

Keyword(s):

Regulatory Networks ◽

Cue Reactivity ◽

Network Connectivity ◽

Heroin User ◽

Top Down ◽

Cue Exposure ◽

Down Regulation ◽

Potential Biomarker ◽

Over Time ◽

Drug Cue

AbstractTop-down regulation is one of the major neural cores in drug-craving management and relapse prevention. The dynamic temporal behavior of top-down regulation between the dorso-lateral and ventro-medial prefrontal cortices (DLPFC and VMPFC) and amygdala during drug cue-exposure has not been studied yet. Fifteen abstinent participants with heroin use disorder were scanned using drug cue-induced craving fMRI task. Using Dynamic Causal Modelling (DCM), the winning model showed a significant reciprocal connection between the VMPFC and DLPFC while there was a one-way effect of the VMPFC on the amygdala. There is also a top-down modulation by DLPFC on the VMPFC-Amygdala connection. Craving contrast input only modulated amygdala directly. Using sliding-window for temporal evaluation, craving input to amygdala increased over time, simultaneously, DLPFC top-down modulatory effect on VMPFC-amygdala connection decreased. Temporal changes in the network connectivity during cue exposure with enhancement in craving input to amygdala and reduction in top-down modulatory effects of DLPFC, could provide us with new insights towards the dynamic nature of the cue-reactivity and failure to control its motivational consequences. Dynamic response of top-down regulatory networks during cue exposure can be considered as a new potential biomarker in the future addiction fMRI studies.

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