Chronic effects of cannabis use on the human reward system: An fMRI study

Hell, H.H. van; Vink, Matthijs; Ossewaarde, Lindsey; Jager, Gerry; Kahn, René S.; Ramsey, Nick F.

doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2009.11.010

Cited by 156 publications

(175 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…This model proposes that reward circuitry is hyperactive during OC compulsions and hypoactive during natural reward processing, as is reported in substance addiction disorders (Martin-Soelch, Missimer, Leenders & Schultz, 2003;Van Hell et al, 2010). Figee et al (2011) reported that during reward anticipation OCD patients showed attenuated activation of the left insula, left vlPFC and nucleus ac- cumbens (NAcc), which are all critical constituents of the reward circuit.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alpha activity in the insula accompanies the urge to neutralize in sub-clinical obsessive-compulsive participants

Jones¹,

Bhattacharya²

2012

Journal of Behavioral Addictions

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Background and aims:The behavioural addiction model of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) proposes that as compulsions successfully reduce obsession-provoked anxiety in the early stages of the disorder, their performance is rewarding and therefore potentially addictive. According to this theory, the urge to perform a compulsion or neutralization resembles craving in addiction, and ventral fronto-striatal reward circuitry is activated during compulsive or neutralizing behaviour, resembling substance addiction disorders. The current study used EEG source localisation to test this hypothesis by examining brain activity accompanying the urge to neutralize and covert neutralization. Methods: Two groups of non-clinical participants (15 Low-OC, 15 High-OC) performed a task in which the urge to neutralize was induced by supplying participants with an obsessive-compulsive-like thought. Source localised EEG activity was compared between a negative condition with high urge to neutralize, and a positive condition with low urge to neutralize, and correlations between brain activity and self-reported urge to neutralize were examined. Results: High-OC participants reported a significantly greater urge to neutralize than Low-OC participants, and the majority of participants reported performing covert neutralization during the experiment. Between-condition comparisons in the High-OC group revealed significantly greater alpha activity in the insula and vlPFC in the negative than the positive condition, which was significantly correlated with both urge to neutralize and later decrease in negative affect. Conclusions: The current results support the proposal that the urge to neutralize in OCD is neurally similar to craving in substance addiction, in agreement with the behavioural addiction model of OCD.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alpha activity in the insula accompanies the urge to neutralize in sub-clinical obsessive-compulsive participants

Jones¹,

Bhattacharya²

2012

Journal of Behavioral Addictions

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“…Cannabis users showed enhanced reward anticipation activity in the middle temporal gyrus bilaterally, right cuneus and right parahippocampal gyrus. When compared to tobacco-smoking controls, cannabis users also showed reduced anticipation activity in the same areas, with the exception of the nucleus accumbens bilaterally, the right medial frontal gyrus and the left cingulated gyrus, indicating that anticipation activity in these regions may be attenuated by both cannabis and nicotine [176]. In accordance with Nestor et al (2010) [175], response to contrasted outcome notification was associated with greater activity in the putamen bilaterally and the right caudate nucleus compared with non-smoking controls [176].…”

Section: Memorymentioning

confidence: 98%

“…When compared to tobacco-smoking controls, cannabis users also showed reduced anticipation activity in the same areas, with the exception of the nucleus accumbens bilaterally, the right medial frontal gyrus and the left cingulated gyrus, indicating that anticipation activity in these regions may be attenuated by both cannabis and nicotine [176]. In accordance with Nestor et al (2010) [175], response to contrasted outcome notification was associated with greater activity in the putamen bilaterally and the right caudate nucleus compared with non-smoking controls [176]. The putamen was more activated in cannabis users than in nonsmokers and tobacco-smoking controls, indicating that changes in this area were mainly due to cannabis use [176].…”

Section: Memorymentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In addition, response to loss and loss avoidance outcome notification was related with hypoactivity in left insula, and in the post hoc analysis comparing loss and win cues with no-outcome cues, right ventral putamen showed greater BOLD response [175]. Conversely, comparing cannabis users to non tobacco-smoking controls, van Hell et al (2010) [176] demonstrated attenuated activity in the nucleus accumbens and caudate nucleus bilaterally during reward anticipation, as well as left putamen and right inferior and medial frontal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus bilaterally and left cingulate gyrus. Cannabis users showed enhanced reward anticipation activity in the middle temporal gyrus bilaterally, right cuneus and right parahippocampal gyrus.…”

Section: Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, duration of cannabis use was associated with greater activity in ventromedial prefrontal cortex [167]. Nestor et al (2010) [175] and van Hell et al (2010) [176] used fMRI to measure brain activity during reward and anticipation of loss with different versions of a monetary reward task. There were no significant behavioural differences between the groups in both studies.…”

Section: Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

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1301 – Structural and functional imaging studies in chronic cannabis users: a systematic review of adolescent and adult findings

Batalla

Bhattachayyria

Yücel

et al. 2013

European Psychiatry

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Background:The growing concern about cannabis use, the most commonly used illicit drug worldwide, has led to a significant increase in the number of human studies using neuroimaging techniques to determine the effect of cannabis on brain structure and function. We conducted a systematic review to assess the evidence of the impact of chronic cannabis use on brain structure and function in adults and adolescents.

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Improvement of Brain Reward Abnormalities by Antipsychotic Monotherapy in Schizophrenia

Nielsen¹,

Rostrup²,

Wulff³

et al. 2012

Arch Gen Psychiatry

141

140

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CONTEXT Schizophrenic symptoms are linked to a dysfunction of dopamine neurotransmission and the brain reward system. However, it remains unclear whether antipsychotic treatment, which blocks dopamine transmission, improves, alters, or even worsens the reward-related abnormalities. OBJECTIVE To investigate changes in reward-related brain activations in schizophrenia before and after antipsychotic monotherapy with a dopamine D2/D3 antagonist. DESIGN Longitudinal cohort study. SETTING Psychiatric inpatients and outpatients in the Capital Region of Denmark. PARTICIPANTS Twenty-three antipsychotic-naive patients with first-episode schizophrenia and 24 healthy controls initially matched on age, sex, and parental socioeconomic status were examined with functional magnetic resonance imaging while playing a variant of the monetary incentive delay task. INTERVENTIONS Patients were treated for 6 weeks with the antipsychotic compound amisulpride. Controls were followed up without treatment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Task-related blood oxygen level-dependent activations as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging before and after antipsychotic treatment. RESULTS At baseline, patients, as compared with controls, demonstrated an attenuation of brain activation during reward anticipation in the ventral striatum, bilaterally. After 6 weeks of treatment, patients showed an increase in the anticipation-related functional magnetic resonance imaging signal and were no longer statistically distinguishable from healthy controls. Among the patients, there was a correlation between the improvement of positive symptoms and normalization of reward-related activation. Those who showed the greatest clinical improvement in positive symptoms also showed the greatest increase in reward-related activation after treatment. CONCLUSIONS To our knowledge, this is the first controlled, longitudinal study of reward disturbances in schizophrenic patients before and after their first antipsychotic treatment. Our results demonstrate that alterations in reward processing are fundamental to the illness and are seen prior to any treatment. Antipsychotic treatment tends to normalize the response of the reward system; this was especially seen in the patients with the most pronounced treatment effect on the positive symptoms. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01154829.

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Chronic effects of cannabis use on the human reward system: An fMRI study

Cited by 156 publications

References 46 publications

Alpha activity in the insula accompanies the urge to neutralize in sub-clinical obsessive-compulsive participants

Alpha activity in the insula accompanies the urge to neutralize in sub-clinical obsessive-compulsive participants

1301 – Structural and functional imaging studies in chronic cannabis users: a systematic review of adolescent and adult findings

Improvement of Brain Reward Abnormalities by Antipsychotic Monotherapy in Schizophrenia

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