Impulsivity in heroin‐dependent individuals: structural and functional abnormalities within frontostriatal circuits
- 1 February 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Brain Imaging and Behavior
- Vol. 15 (5), 2454-2463
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-020-00445-w
Abstract
High levels of impulsivity are a risk factor for the initiation of heroin use and a core behavioral characteristic of heroin dependence. Impulsivity also contributes to the maintenance of drug use and hinders effective therapy. Here we sought to identify neuroimaging markers of impulsivity in heroin-dependent individuals (HDI), with a focus on the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a key region implicated in impulsivity and drug addiction generally. Volume and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) differences of the bilateral NAc were investigated between 21 HDI and 21 age-, gender-, nicotine-, alcohol-matched healthy controls (HC). The neuroimaging results were then correlated with the Barratt Impulsivity Scales (BIS-11). Higher motor impulsivity (t = 2.347, p = 0.0253) and larger right NAc volume (F (1,38) = 4.719, p = 0.036) was observed in HDI. The right NAc volume was positively correlated with BIS total (r = 0.6196, p = 0.0239) /motor (r = 0.5921, p = 0.0330) scores in HC and BIS motor (r = 0.5145, p = 0.0170) score in HDI. A negative correlation was found between RSFC of the right NAc-bilateral superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and motor impulsivity in HDI (left: r=-0.6537, p = 0.0013; right: r=-0.6167, p = 0.0029) and HC (left: r=-0.6490,p = 0.0164; right: r=-0.6993, p = 0.0078). We aimed to reveal novel multimodality neuroimaging biomarkers of the higher impulsivity in HDI by focusing on the NAc and corresponding functional circuits. Higher motor impulsivity was observed in HDI. Furthermore, the volume of the right NAc and the RSFC strength of right NAc-SFG could be neuroimaging biomarkers for the severity of impulsivity in HDI. These potential biomarkers could be a target for novel treatments in HDI.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81871426, 81871430, 61971451)
- the program for Young Talents of Science and Technology in Universities of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (NJYT-17-B11)
- the Key R & D projects in Hunan Province (2019SK2131)
- the Natural Science Foundation of Inner Mongolia (2019JQ07)
- the Science and Technology Planning Project of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (2019GG109)
- Chunhui Program of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (2018-45)
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