Regional Brain Activity in Abstinent Methamphetamine Dependent Males Following Cue Exposure.
BACKGROUND
Neuroimaging of drug-associated cue presentations has aided in understanding the neurobiological substrates of craving and relapse for cocaine, alcohol, and nicotine. However, imaging of cue-reactivity in methamphetamine addiction has been much less studied.


METHODS
Nine caucasian male methamphetamine-dependent subjects and nine healthy controls were scanned in a Phillips 3.0T MRI scan when they viewed a randomized presentation of visual cues of methamphetamine, neutral objects, and rest conditions. Functional Imaging data were analyzed with Statistical Parametric Mapping software 5 (SPM 5).


RESULTS
Methamphetamine subjects had significant brain activation in the ventral striatum and medial frontal cortex in comparison to meth pictures and neutral pictures in healthy controls (p<0.005, threshold 15 voxels). Interestingly the ventral striatum activation significantly correlated with the days since the last use of meth (r=-0.76, p=0.017). No significant activity was found in healthy control group.


CONCLUSIONS
The preliminary data suggest that methamphetamine dependent subjects, when exposed to methamphetamine-associated visual cues, have increased brain activity in ventral striatum, caudate nucleus and medial frontal cortex which subserve craving, drug-seeking, and drug use.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
Robert
R
Malcolm
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA; Ralph H Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research and Development Service, Charleston, SC, USA; Center for Advanced Imaging Research, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
Hugh
H
Myrick
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA; Center for Advanced Imaging Research, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
Xingbao
X
Li
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
Scott
S
Henderson
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA; Ralph H Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research and Development Service, Charleston, SC, USA.
Kathleen T
KT
Brady
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA; Ralph H Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research and Development Service, Charleston, SC, USA; Center for Advanced Imaging Research, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
Mark S
MS
George
Department of Neurosciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
Ronald E
RE
See
Cortex; Cue exposure; Methamphetamine; Striatum; fMRI