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A Protocol for Measuring Cue Reactivity in a Rat Model of Cocaine Use Disorder
Published on: June 18, 2018
Reduced interhemispheric resting state functional connectivity in cocaine addiction.
Clare Kelly1, Xi-Nian Zuo, Kristin Gotimer
1Phyllis Green and Randolph Cōwen Institute for Pediatric Neuroscience at the New York University Child Study Center, New York, New York 10016, USA. clare.kelly@nyumc.org
Biological Psychiatry
|January 22, 2011
Summary
Cocaine addiction is linked to reduced brain connectivity between hemispheres, particularly in areas controlling attention. These functional changes occur even without visible white matter damage.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Addiction Research
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Cocaine addiction models highlight frontal lobe dysfunction in cognitive control.
- Interhemispheric brain communication in addiction is understudied.
- Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) quantifies brain region interactions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate interhemispheric resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) in cocaine dependence.
- To examine alterations in brain circuitry supporting cognitive control in abstinent cocaine users.
Main Methods:
- Compared interhemispheric RSFC using voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity in 25 abstinent cocaine-dependent adults and 24 healthy controls.
- Participants were group-matched for age, sex, education, and employment.
Main Results:
- Cocaine-dependent individuals showed reduced prefrontal interhemispheric RSFC compared to controls.
- Significant reductions in RSFC were found within the dorsal attention network in the cocaine-dependent group.
- Within the cocaine-dependent group, dorsal attention network RSFC correlated with self-reported attentional lapses.
Conclusions:
- Chronic cocaine use is associated with disrupted large-scale brain circuitry for cognitive control.
- Functional brain architecture changes in cocaine dependence can exist independently of white matter microstructure abnormalities.
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