Neuroimaging of Alcohol Use Disorder

National Institute On Alcohol Abuse And Alcoholism

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

RESTING STATE FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY (rsFC) has become an area of research with potential to characterize mental states, psychopathology, and psychiatric disorders. On the other hand, timing and type of trauma have been shown to impact the development, function and connectivity of brain circuits. Dysfunctions of emotion processing, top-down inhibitory control, and cognitive functions and their underlying brain circuits are commonly observed in patients with AUD. The goal of this study was to investigate whether type (emotional, physical, sexual) and timing of trauma (childhood vs. adulthood) differentially affects the behavioral and circuit-level phenotype of individuals with AUD. In the AUD group, childhood trauma was associated with lower connectivity of the amygdala and insula with several nodes of the default mode network and the ventral visual stream, including the superior frontal gyrus, the thalamus, the hippocampus, the inferior temporal gyrus, and the fusiform gyrus. The low functional connectivity of these brain regions observed in AUD vs HC was common to all maltreatment types. Our findings show that CT exposure in individuals with AUD is associated with abnormal rsFC in networks implicated in social cognition, emotion, and visual processes. These results suggest potential mechanisms by which CT may increase vulnerability to AUD. Future research will be essential to understand whether the neural alterations found in our study represent a distinct neurobiological subtype of AUD associated with CT exposure. The details of these findings are submitted for publication, which is currently under the second round of reviews. We have completed another study investigating the association between resting state connectivity and polygenic risk scores of problematic drinking, cannabis use disorder, risk, and cigarettes per day. The goal of this study was to determine whether such association has the potential to provide a cost-effective approach in early detection and prevention of developing AUD without the need for extensive and costly longitudinal research seeking similar objectives. In addition, the results of this study might also provide us with more in-depth understanding of the sensitivity of brain morphometry and rsFC to each PGS factor. By investigating the interplay between genetic predispositions and their influence on brain structure and the function of individuals with alcohol use disorder, we would be able to identify risk effects on brain which in turn may enable us to develop targeted and personalized interventions. We are in the process of drafting a manuscript reporting our findings. NEURAL SUBSTRATE OF IMPULSE CONTROL - We have developed and implemented a new task called regulation of craving (RoC) for a recently initiated fMRI project in which we examine the neural responses to alcohol cues when the participant is instructed to simply observe or try to regulate their craving for images of alcoholic beverages. The RoC task is being piloted for future use in a treatment study. HIGH TEMPORAL RESOLUTION AUD CHARACTERIZATION – We have started a new study in which we will test the effects of an FDA approved medication, acamprosate, on alpha, beta, and slow band (delta and theta) powers in resting electroencephalogram (EEG) with the intention to find EEG biomarkers to predict treatment longevity and relapse. The first participant in the study has completed the study procedures and is currently in follow up. VIRTUAL REALITY - While it is known that alcohol craving is affected by location, it is also known that these cravings have a multidimensional quality which makes understanding them difficult. We have embarked on developing studies that enable us to learn more about cue reactivity by using virtual reality to immerse the subject in different scenes. As a first attempt we have developed a virtual reality alcohol craving questionnaire (VACQ) task that provides a wealth of behavioral and physiological data regarding the changes that are made in alcohol craving using VR medium. We intend to us some preliminary experiments to develop future hypothesis driven protocols using this approach to obtain a deeper understanding of alcohol cravings and to design therapeutic treatments for AUD individuals. LARGE SCALE BRAIN ANALYSIS - In our previous studies we have shown the effect of comorbid PTSD and alcohol use on disorder. In a recent study, ENIGMA consortium members in collaboration with our lab have further pursued the understanding of the underlying neurobiology of these two disorders by examining the potential variations in regional cortical thickness (CT), subcortical volume and cortico-cortical connectivity across PTSD, AUD, PTSD&AUD relative to controls. The findings suggested that the neuroanatomy of PTSD&AUD is more aligned with PTSD, but is characterized by its own disrupted network architecture, which might either contribute to the development of the comorbidity or be a consequence of it. The detailed description of the findings has been submitted for publication.