Inhibitory behavioral control: A stochastic dynamic causal modeling study comparing cocaine dependent subjects and...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Neuroimaging
• Addiction Research

Background:

• Cocaine dependence is linked to impulsivity and altered cortico-striatal networks.
• Response inhibition, a measure of impulsivity, shows altered brain activation in cocaine-dependent (CD) individuals.
• Directional neuronal connectivity in CD subjects remains poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate effective neuronal connectivity during response inhibition in CD subjects using fMRI-based dynamic causal modeling (DCM).
• To compare directional prefrontal-striatal connectivity between CD subjects and controls during a Go/NoGo task with varying difficulty.

Main Methods:

• Utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with dynamic causal modeling (DCM).
• Employed a Go/NoGo task with easy and hard NoGo conditions.
• Analyzed effective connectivity between prefrontal regions (ACC, DLPFC, VLPFC) and the caudate.

Main Results:

• Prefrontal-striatal connectivity was modulated during NoGo conditions in both groups.
• Left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) to left caudate connectivity was similarly modulated in easy NoGo trials.
• During hard NoGo trials, controls showed altered right dorsolateral/ventrolateral prefrontal cortex to left caudate connectivity, while CD subjects showed altered left ACC to left caudate connectivity.

Conclusions:

• Response inhibition performance was similar between CD subjects and controls.
• CD subjects exhibit distinct patterns of effective connectivity, particularly involving the ACC, during challenging response inhibition tasks.
• Findings highlight aberrant directional neuronal communication in the brains of individuals with cocaine dependence.