title: Abnormal functional integration of thalamic low frequency oscillation in the BOLD signal after acute heroin treatment.
abstract: Heroin addiction is a severe relapsing brain disorder associated with impaired cognitive control, including deficits in attention allocation. The thalamus has a high density of opiate receptors and is critically involved in orchestrating cortical activity during cognitive control. However, there have been no studies on how acute heroin treatment modulates thalamic activity. In a cross-over, double-blind, vehicle-controlled study, 29 heroin-maintained outpatients were studied after heroin and placebo administration, while 20 healthy controls were included for the placebo condition only. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to analyze functional integration of the thalamus by three different resting state analysis techniques. Thalamocortical functional connectivity (FC) was analyzed by seed-based correlation, while intrinsic thalamic oscillation was assessed by analysis of regional homogeneity (ReHo) and the fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF). Relative to the placebo treatment and healthy controls, acute heroin administration reduced thalamocortical FC to cortical regions, including the frontal cortex, while the reductions in FC to the mediofrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and frontal pole were positively correlated with the plasma level of morphine, the main psychoactive metabolite of heroin. Furthermore, heroin treatment was associated with increased thalamic ReHo and fALFF values, whereas fALFF following heroin exposure correlated negatively with scores of attentional control. The heroin-associated increase in fALFF was mainly dominated by slow-4 (0.027-0.073 Hz) oscillations. Our findings show that there are acute effects of heroin within the thalamocortical system and may shed new light on the role of the thalamus in cognitive control in heroin addiction. Future research is needed to determine the underlying physiological mechanisms and their role in heroin addiction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, 4012, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Niklaus
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Denier
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, 4012, Switzerland.|Medical Image Analysis Centre, University Hospital Basel, Basel, 4031, Switzerland.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, 4012, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Hana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gerber
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, 4012, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, 4012, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christian G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, 4012, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Undine E
authors.initials: UE
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, 4012, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Riecher-Rossler
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, 4012, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gerhard A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Wiesbeck
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, 4012, Switzerland.|Medical Image Analysis Centre, University Hospital Basel, Basel, 4031, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ernst-Wilhelm
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Radue
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, 4012, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, 4012, Switzerland.|Medical Image Analysis Centre, University Hospital Basel, Basel, 4031, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Borgwardt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003932:Heroin / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009294:Narcotics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D010045:Outpatients; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013788:Thalamus / Q000098:blood supply / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D009294:Narcotics; D003932:Heroin; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: cognitive control; functional connectivity; heroin addiction; heroin effects; resting state; thalamus