TY - JOUR
T1 - Cannabis cue-induced brain activation correlates with drug craving in limbic and visual salience regions
T2 - Preliminary results
AU - Charboneau, Evonne J.
AU - Dietrich, Mary S.
AU - Park, Sohee
AU - Cao, Aize
AU - Watkins, Tristan J.
AU - Blackford, Jennifer U.
AU - Benningfield, Margaret M.
AU - Martin, Peter R.
AU - Buchowski, Maciej S.
AU - Cowan, Ronald L.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported in part by the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR) grant 1UL1 RR024975 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR/NIH) , and in part from grants R01 DA015137 and R21 DA020149 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA/NIH) (to RLC) , 1R01 DA015713 from NIDA/NIH (to PRM), and from the Vanderbilt Addiction Center. MMB was supported in part by DK69465 ; JUB was supported in part by grant K01 MH083052 . The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00838448 http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00838448 .
Funding Information:
Within the past 3 years, Dr. Cowan has received publication royalties from Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, consultant income from the Southwest Michigan First Life Science Fund and the University of West Alabama, and research and salary support from Shire Pharmaceuticals and Novo Nordisk for projects not overlapping with this report.
PY - 2013/11/30
Y1 - 2013/11/30
N2 - Craving is a major motivator underlying drug use and relapse but the neural correlates of cannabis craving are not well understood. This study sought to determine whether visual cannabis cues increase cannabis craving and whether cue-induced craving is associated with regional brain activation in cannabis-dependent individuals. Cannabis craving was assessed in 16 cannabis-dependent adult volunteers while they viewed cannabis cues during a functional MRI (fMRI) scan. The Marijuana Craving Questionnaire was administered immediately before and after each of three cannabis cue-exposure fMRI runs. FMRI blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) signal intensity was determined in regions activated by cannabis cues to examine the relationship of regional brain activation to cannabis craving. Craving scores increased significantly following exposure to visual cannabis cues. Visual cues activated multiple brain regions, including inferior orbital frontal cortex, posterior cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, amygdala, superior temporal pole, and occipital cortex. Craving scores at baseline and at the end of all three runs were significantly correlated with brain activation during the first fMRI run only, in the limbic system (including amygdala and hippocampus) and paralimbic system (superior temporal pole), and visual regions (occipital cortex). Cannabis cues increased craving in cannabis-dependent individuals and this increase was associated with activation in the limbic, paralimbic, and visual systems during the first fMRI run, but not subsequent fMRI runs. These results suggest that these regions may mediate visually cued aspects of drug craving. This study provides preliminary evidence for the neural basis of cue-induced cannabis craving and suggests possible neural targets for interventions targeted at treating cannabis dependence.
AB - Craving is a major motivator underlying drug use and relapse but the neural correlates of cannabis craving are not well understood. This study sought to determine whether visual cannabis cues increase cannabis craving and whether cue-induced craving is associated with regional brain activation in cannabis-dependent individuals. Cannabis craving was assessed in 16 cannabis-dependent adult volunteers while they viewed cannabis cues during a functional MRI (fMRI) scan. The Marijuana Craving Questionnaire was administered immediately before and after each of three cannabis cue-exposure fMRI runs. FMRI blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) signal intensity was determined in regions activated by cannabis cues to examine the relationship of regional brain activation to cannabis craving. Craving scores increased significantly following exposure to visual cannabis cues. Visual cues activated multiple brain regions, including inferior orbital frontal cortex, posterior cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, amygdala, superior temporal pole, and occipital cortex. Craving scores at baseline and at the end of all three runs were significantly correlated with brain activation during the first fMRI run only, in the limbic system (including amygdala and hippocampus) and paralimbic system (superior temporal pole), and visual regions (occipital cortex). Cannabis cues increased craving in cannabis-dependent individuals and this increase was associated with activation in the limbic, paralimbic, and visual systems during the first fMRI run, but not subsequent fMRI runs. These results suggest that these regions may mediate visually cued aspects of drug craving. This study provides preliminary evidence for the neural basis of cue-induced cannabis craving and suggests possible neural targets for interventions targeted at treating cannabis dependence.
KW - Addiction
KW - Drug abuse
KW - Functional MRI
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U2 - 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2013.06.005
DO - 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2013.06.005
M3 - Article
C2 - 24035535
AN - SCOPUS:84884817378
SN - 0925-4927
VL - 214
SP - 122
EP - 131
JO - Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging
JF - Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging
IS - 2
ER -