title: Differential brain response to alcohol cue distractors across stages of alcohol dependence.
abstract: Altered attention to alcohol-related cues is implicated in the craving and relapse cycle characteristic of alcohol dependence (ALC). Prior cue reactivity studies typically invoke explicit attention to alcohol cues, so the neural response underlying incidental cue exposure remains unclear. Here, we embed infrequent, task-irrelevant alcohol and non-alcohol cues in an attention-demanding task, enabling evaluation of brain responses to distracting alcohol cues. Alcohol dependent individuals, across illness phase (n=44), and controls (n=20) performed a cue-reactivity fMRI target detection task. Significant Group-by-Distractor effects were observed in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), inferior parietal lobule, and amygdala. Controls and long-term abstainers increased recruitment of attention and cognitive control regions, while recent and long-term abstainers decreased limbic recruitment to alcohol distractors. Across phases of ALC, self-reported craving positively correlated with cue-related activations in ventral ACC, medial prefrontal cortex, and cerebellum. Results indicate that brain responses elicited by incidental alcohol cues differentiate phases of ALC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Susanna L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Fryer
authors.forename: Kasper W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Jorgensen
authors.forename: Elizabeth J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Yetter
authors.forename: Elsa C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Daurignac
authors.forename: Todd D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: Harshad
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shanbhag
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Krystal
authors.forename: Daniel H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Mathalon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003463:Cues; D000431:Ethanol; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol; D010100:Oxygen