title: Resting-state functional connectivity between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and thalamus is associated with risky decision-making in nicotine addicts.
abstract: Nicotine addiction is associated with risky behaviors and abnormalities in local brain areas related to risky decision-making such as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), anterior insula (AI), and thalamus. Although these brain abnormalities are anatomically separated, they may in fact belong to one neural network. However, it is unclear whether circuit-level abnormalities lead to risky decision-making in smokers. In the current study, we used task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and examined resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) to study how connectivity between the dACC, insula, and thalamus influence risky decision-making in nicotine addicts. We found that an increase in risky decision-making was associated with stronger nicotine dependence and stronger RSFC of the dACC-rAI (right AI), the dACC-thalamus, the dACC-lAI (left AI), and the rAI-lAI, but that risky decision-making was not associated with risk level-related activation. Furthermore, the severity of nicotine dependence positively correlated with RSFC of the dACC-thalamus but was not associated with risk level-related activation. Importantly, the dACC-thalamus coupling fully mediated the effect of nicotine-dependent severity on risky decision-making. These results suggest that circuit-level connectivity may be a critical neural link between risky decision-making and severity of nicotine dependence in smokers.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Science &Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Zhengde
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Science &Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Nannan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230001, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Science &Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Lizhuang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Science &Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Science &Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Science &Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Rujing
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zha
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Science &Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Ruiqi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Science &Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Yifeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Science &Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.|School of Humanities &Social Science, University of Science &Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China.|Center of Medical Physics and Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, CAS, Hefei, Anhui 230031, China.|Centers for Biomedical Engineering, University of Science &Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Xiaochu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D005731:Ganglionic Stimulants / Q000378:metabolism*; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D009538:Nicotine / Q000378:metabolism*; D012309:Risk-Taking; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D005731:Ganglionic Stimulants; D009538:Nicotine