Ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens activation to smoking-related pictorial cues in smokers and nonsmokers: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Journal article

BACKGROUND: Converging evidence from several theories of the development of incentive-sensitization to smoking-related environmental stimuli suggests that the ventral striatum plays an important role in the processing of smoking-related cue reactivity. METHODS: Twenty-six healthy right-handed volunteers (14 smokers and 12 nonsmoking controls) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during which neutral and smoking-related images were presented. Region of interest analyses were performed within the ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens (VS/NAc) for the contrast between smoking-related (SR) and nonsmoking related neutral (N) cues. RESULTS: Group activation for SR versus N cues was observed in smokers but not in nonsmokers in medial orbitofrontal cortex, superior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex, and posterior fusiform gyrus using whole-brain corrected Z thresholds and in the ventral VS/NAc using uncorrected Z-statistics (smokers Z = 3.2). Region of interest analysis of signal change within ventral VS/NAc demonstrated significantly greater activation to SR versus N cues in smokers than controls. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first demonstration of greater VS/NAc activation in addicted smokers than nonsmokers presented with smoking-related cues using fMRI. Smokers, but not controls, demonstrated activation to SR versus N cues in a distributed reward signaling network consistent with cue reactivity studies of other drugs of abuse.

Authors: David, S; Munafò, MR; Johansen-Berg, H; Smith, S; Rogers, R

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Biological psychiatry
• Volume: 58
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 488-494
• Publication date: 2005-09-01
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.04.028
• EISSN: 1873-2402
• ISSN: 0006-3223
• Language: English
• Keywords: Oxygen; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Humans; Adult; Visual Perception; History, 21st Century; Tobacco Use Disorder; Basal Ganglia; Nucleus Accumbens; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Female; Cues; Brain Mapping; Male