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Title: Overlapping patterns of brain activation to food and cocaine cues in cocaine abusers: Association to striatal D2/D3 receptors

Abstract

Cocaine, through its activation of dopamine (DA) signaling, usurps pathways that process natural rewards. However, the extent to which there is overlap between the networks that process natural and drug rewards and whether DA signaling associated with cocaine abuse influences these networks have not been investigated in humans. We measured brain activation responses to food and cocaine cues with fMRI, and D2/D3 receptors in the striatum with [11C]raclopride and PET in 20 active cocaine abusers. Compared to neutral cues, food and cocaine cues increasingly engaged cerebellum, orbitofrontal, inferior frontal and premotor cortices and insula and disengaged cuneus and default mode network (DMN). These fMRI signals were proportional to striatal D2/D3 receptors. Surprisingly cocaine and food cues also deactivated ventral striatum and hypothalamus. Compared to food cues, cocaine cues produced lower activation in insula and postcentral gyrus, and less deactivation in hypothalamus and DMN regions. Activation in cortical regions and cerebellum increased in proportion to the valence of the cues, and activation to food cues in somatosensory and orbitofrontal cortices also increased in proportion to body mass. Longer exposure to cocaine was associated with lower activation to both cues in occipital cortex and cerebellum, which could reflect the decreases in D2/D3more » receptors associated with chronicity. In conclusion, these findings show that cocaine cues activate similar, though not identical, pathways to those activated by food cues and that striatal D2/D3 receptors modulate these responses, suggesting that chronic cocaine exposure might influence brain sensitivity not just to drugs but also to food cues.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD (United States)
  2. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  3. National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, MD (United States)
  4. New York Univ., New York, NY (United States)
  5. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD (United States); National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, MD (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE; National Inst. of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
OSTI Identifier:
1281081
Grant/Contract Number:  
2RO1AA09481
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Human Brain Mapping
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 36; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1065-9471
Publisher:
Wiley
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; reward; addiction; obesity; fMRI; PET

Citation Formats

Tomasi, Dardo, Wang, Gene -Jack, Wang, Ruiliang, Caparelli, Elisabeth C., Logan, Jean, and Volkow, Nora D. Overlapping patterns of brain activation to food and cocaine cues in cocaine abusers: Association to striatal D2/D3 receptors. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1002/hbm.22617.
Tomasi, Dardo, Wang, Gene -Jack, Wang, Ruiliang, Caparelli, Elisabeth C., Logan, Jean, & Volkow, Nora D. Overlapping patterns of brain activation to food and cocaine cues in cocaine abusers: Association to striatal D2/D3 receptors. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22617
Tomasi, Dardo, Wang, Gene -Jack, Wang, Ruiliang, Caparelli, Elisabeth C., Logan, Jean, and Volkow, Nora D. Wed . "Overlapping patterns of brain activation to food and cocaine cues in cocaine abusers: Association to striatal D2/D3 receptors". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22617. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1281081.
@article{osti_1281081,
title = {Overlapping patterns of brain activation to food and cocaine cues in cocaine abusers: Association to striatal D2/D3 receptors},
author = {Tomasi, Dardo and Wang, Gene -Jack and Wang, Ruiliang and Caparelli, Elisabeth C. and Logan, Jean and Volkow, Nora D.},
abstractNote = {Cocaine, through its activation of dopamine (DA) signaling, usurps pathways that process natural rewards. However, the extent to which there is overlap between the networks that process natural and drug rewards and whether DA signaling associated with cocaine abuse influences these networks have not been investigated in humans. We measured brain activation responses to food and cocaine cues with fMRI, and D2/D3 receptors in the striatum with [11C]raclopride and PET in 20 active cocaine abusers. Compared to neutral cues, food and cocaine cues increasingly engaged cerebellum, orbitofrontal, inferior frontal and premotor cortices and insula and disengaged cuneus and default mode network (DMN). These fMRI signals were proportional to striatal D2/D3 receptors. Surprisingly cocaine and food cues also deactivated ventral striatum and hypothalamus. Compared to food cues, cocaine cues produced lower activation in insula and postcentral gyrus, and less deactivation in hypothalamus and DMN regions. Activation in cortical regions and cerebellum increased in proportion to the valence of the cues, and activation to food cues in somatosensory and orbitofrontal cortices also increased in proportion to body mass. Longer exposure to cocaine was associated with lower activation to both cues in occipital cortex and cerebellum, which could reflect the decreases in D2/D3 receptors associated with chronicity. In conclusion, these findings show that cocaine cues activate similar, though not identical, pathways to those activated by food cues and that striatal D2/D3 receptors modulate these responses, suggesting that chronic cocaine exposure might influence brain sensitivity not just to drugs but also to food cues.},
doi = {10.1002/hbm.22617},
journal = {Human Brain Mapping},
number = 1,
volume = 36,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Aug 20 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Wed Aug 20 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}

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The Molecular Neurobiology of Twelve Steps Program & Fellowship: Connecting the Dots for Recovery
journal, January 2015

  • Blum, Kenneth; Thompson, Benjamin; Demotrovics, Zsolt
  • Journal of Reward Deficiency Syndrome, Vol. 01, Issue 01
  • DOI: 10.17756/jrds.2015-008

KB220Z™ a Pro-Dopamine Regulator Associated with the Protracted, Alleviation of Terrifying Lucid Dreams. Can We Infer Neuroplasticity-induced Changes in the Reward Circuit?
journal, January 2016

  • McLaughlin, Thomas; Febo, Marcelo; Badgaiyan, Rajendra
  • Journal of Reward Deficiency Syndrome and Addiction Science, Vol. 2, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.17756/jrdsas.2016-022

Hypothesizing that, A Pro-Dopamine Regulator (KB220Z) Should Optimize, but Not Hyper-Activate the Activity of Trace Amine-Associated Receptor 1 (TAAR-1) and Induce Anti-Craving of Psychostimulants in the Long-Term
journal, January 2016

  • Blum, Kenneth; Badgaiyan, Rajendra; Braverman, Eric
  • Journal of Reward Deficiency Syndrome and Addiction Science, Vol. 2, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.17756/jrdsas.2016-023

Neuroscience of Internet Pornography Addiction: A Review and Update
journal, September 2015

  • Love, Todd; Laier, Christian; Brand, Matthias
  • Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 5, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.3390/bs5030388