Instructed smoking expectancy modulates cue‐elicited neural activity: A preliminary study

Abstract

In recent years, research applying functional neuroimaging to the study of cue-elicited drug craving has emerged. This research has begun to identify a distributed system of brain activity during drug craving. A review of this literature suggested that expectations regarding the opportunity to use a drug affected the pattern of neural responses elicited by drug cues. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined the effects of smoking expectancy on the neural response to neutral (e.g., roll of tape) and smoking-related (a cigarette) stimuli in male cigarette smokers deprived of nicotine for 8 hr. As predicted, several brain regions (e.g., the anterior cingulate cortex) exhibited differential activation during cigarette versus neutral cue exposure. Moreover, we found that subregions of the prefrontal cortex (i.e., ventromedial, ventrolateral, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices) showed cue-elicited activation that was modulated by smoking expectancy. These results highlight the importance of perceived drug use opportunity in the neurobiological response to drug cues.

Limbic Activation to Cigarette Smoking Cues Independent of Nicotine Withdrawal: A Perfusion fMRI Study

“…One mitigating factor may relate to whether subjects were recruited from those seeking treatment for their addiction or from nontreatment seekers. Alternatively, expecting to use drug, regardless of treatment status may partially underlie DLPFC involvement (Wilson et al, 2005). DLPFC activation was observed in 7/10 drug cue studies in subjects not currently seeking treatment but only in 1/9 studies comprised of treatment seekers.…”

“…Insulae are important in mediating autonomic responses to drugs of abuse and their predictors and thus were examined in the analysis (Bechara et al, 2000;Garavan et al, 2000). Lastly, we predicted that smoking cues would activate the fusiform gyrus, as it plays a role in attention, and has been activated in previous nicotine cue reactivity studies (David et al, 2005;Due et al, 2002;Wilson et al, 2005). We hypothesized that increases in perfusion in ventral medial prefrontal and deep limbic structures (amygdala, insula, and ventral striatum), regions important in mediating responses to drug cues, would correlate with subjective craving scores.…”

“…A priori CNS regions of interest were chosen based on over 20 years of preclinical literature on drug-seeking behavior (Robinson and Berridge, 1993;Wise, 1988;Galvan et al, 2005), and the more recent advances in functional neuroimaging in smoking cue and other drug cue reactivity studies (Brody et al, 2002;Childress et al, 1999;Due et al, 2002;Wilson et al, 2005;Smolka et al, 2006;McClernon et al, 2005). We expected to see greater neural activity to smoking cues in the areas of the pedunculopontine nucleus, ventral tegmental area, and ventral striatum, the proposed pathway through which nicotine and associated cues modulate the mesolimbic dopaminergic system (Corrigall et al, 1994;Laviolette et al, 2002).…”

Effects of Expectancy and Abstinence on the Neural Response to Smoking Cues in Cigarette Smokers: an fMRI Study

“…Two groups underwent fMRI scanning while being exposed to cigarette and neutral cues (Wilson et al, 2005). The groups differed only in expectation to smoke after the scan, and subjects were randomly assigned to each group.…”

Individual Differences in Nicotine Dependence, Withdrawal Symptoms, and Sex Predict Transient fMRI-BOLD Responses to Smoking Cues

“…For instance, female sex was associated with activation in Cun, STG, and Put. The Cun, which subserves visuospatial attention, has been shown to be active in response to smoking cues in several previous studies of smoking cue reactivity (Brody et al, 2007;Smolka et al, 2006;Wilson et al, 2005). The function of the STG in smoking cue reactivity is unclear.…”