Functional alteration in frontolimbic systems relevant to moral judgment in cocaine-dependent subjects.
Cocaine addiction is characterized by persistent decision-making deficits, which are linked to structural and functional abnormalities in frontolimbic systems. Moral judgment is as a special instance of decision making, in which both cognitive and emotional signals must be adequately integrated to decide how to resolve moral dilemmas. Here, we employed a moral dilemmas functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task to explore possible alterations of frontolimbic systems in cocaine-dependent subjects. We also explored if these alterations relate to more basic deficits in functional connectivity within these systems during spontaneous resting-state activation. Ten cocaine-dependent subjects and 14 non-drug-using controls participated in the study. Cocaine-dependent subjects were carefully selected to discard potentially confounding co-morbidities, and they underwent a uniform supervised abstinence period of 10 days. Both groups were scanned, and fMRI maps were generated to identify (1) brain response to moral dilemmas; and (2) the strength of functional connectivity within frontolimbic systems during resting-state. During the moral dilemmas task, cocaine-dependent subjects showed reduced activation involving frontolimbic structures as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), left insula and brain stem. Connectivity analyses showed that cocaine users had less resting-state functional connectivity between ACC, thalamus, insula and brain stem. These results demonstrate that cocaine-dependent subjects have functional alterations in the frontolimbic systems that support moral judgment and social decision making.
Institute of Neuroscience F. Olóriz and Department of Clinical Psychology, Universidad de Granada, Spain; Human Pharmacology and Clinical Neurosciences Research Group, Neuroscience Research Program, IMIM-Hospital del Mar Research Institute, Parc de Salut Mar, Spain.
Antonio
A
Verdejo-Garcia
Oren
O
Contreras-Rodríguez
Francina
F
Fonseca
Aida
A
Cuenca
Carles
C
Soriano-Mas
Joan
J
Rodriguez
Ricardo
R
Pardo-Lozano
Laura
L
Blanco-Hinojo
Susana
S
de Sola Llopis
Magí
M
Farré
Marta
M
Torrens
Jesús
J
Pujol
Rafael
R
de la Torre
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D008032:Limbic System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009014:Morals; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D010487:Periaqueductal Gray / Q000503:physiopathology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult