Cingulo-hippocampal effective connectivity positively correlates with drug-cue attentional bias in opioid use disorder

Liangsuo Ma; Joel L Steinberg; James M Bjork; Brian A Taylor; Albert J Arias; Mishka Terplan; Noelle C Anastasio; Edward A Zuniga; Michael Lennon; Kathryn A Cunningham; F Gerard Moeller

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2019.08.005

Cingulo-hippocampal effective connectivity positively correlates with drug-cue attentional bias in opioid use disorder

Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2019 Dec 30:294:110977. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2019.08.005. Epub 2019 Aug 13.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA; Department of Radiology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
³ Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
⁴ Center for Addiction Research and Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
⁵ Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
⁶ Center for Translational Science, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
⁷ Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA; Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA; Department of Neurology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.

Abstract

Individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) often relapse when exposed to opioid-related cues. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have identified neuronal corticolimbic changes related to drug cue reactivity in OUD. However, the corresponding manner in which brain regions interact is still unclear. Effective (directional) connectivity was analyzed using dynamic causal modeling of fMRI data acquired from 27 OUD participants (13 with OUD and 14 with OUD and cocaine use disorder [OUD+CUD]), while performing an opioid-word Stroop task. Participants were shown opioid and neutral words presented in different colors and were instructed to indicate word color but ignore word meaning. The effects of opioid words relative to neutral words on effective connectivity and on behavioral reaction time were defined as modulatory change and attentional bias, respectively. For all the 27 participants, left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) to right hippocampus effective connectivity exhibited the largest modulatory change, which was positively correlated with attentional bias. The findings for the ACC to hippocampus EC were consistent across OUD and CUD found in a previous study.

Keywords: Attentional bias; Cue reactivity; Dynamic causal modeling; Effective connectivity; Opioid use disorder.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Analgesics, Opioid
Attentional Bias / physiology*
Brain / physiopathology
Brain Mapping / methods
Cognition / physiology
Cues
Female
Gyrus Cinguli / physiopathology*
Hippocampus / physiopathology*
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
Male
Opioid-Related Disorders / physiopathology*
Opioid-Related Disorders / psychology*
Reaction Time / physiology
Stroop Test
Temporal Lobe

Substances

Analgesics, Opioid

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding