title: Earlier adolescent substance use onset predicts stronger connectivity between reward and cognitive control brain networks.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Early adolescent onset of substance use is a robust predictor of future substance use disorders. We examined the relation between age of substance use initiation and resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) of the core reward processing (nucleus accumbens; NAcc) to cognitive control (prefrontal cortex; PFC) brain networks.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adolescents in a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin youth reported their substance use annually from ages 10 to 16 years. At age 16, 69 adolescents participated in a resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Seed-based correlational analyses were conducted using regions of interest in bilateral NAcc.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The earlier that adolescents initiated substance use, the stronger the connectivity between bilateral NAcc and right dorsolateral PFC, right dorsomedial PFC, right pre-supplementary motor area, right inferior parietal lobule, and left medial temporal gyrus.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The regions that demonstrated significant positive linear relationships between the number of adolescent years using substances and connectivity with NAcc are nodes in the right frontoparietal network, which is central to cognitive control. The coupling of reward and cognitive control networks may be a mechanism through which earlier onset of substance use is related to brain function over time, a trajectory that may be implicated in subsequent substance use disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, United States; Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, United States. Electronic address: dgweissman@ucdavis.edu.
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Weissman
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, United States.
authors.forename: Roberta A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Schriber
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Davis, United States.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fassbender
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, United States.
authors.forename: Olivia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Atherton
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Davis, United States.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Krafft
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, United States.
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Robins
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, United States; Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, United States.
authors.forename: Paul D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Hastings
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, United States; Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, United States.
authors.forename: Amanda E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Guyer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D017668:Age of Onset; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000473:pathology*; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000473:pathology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012201:Reward; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Adolescence; Cognitive regulation; Resting state; Striatum; fMRI