title: Electrical stimulation reduces smokers' craving by modulating the coupling between dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus.
abstract: Applying electrical stimulation over the prefrontal cortex can help nicotine dependents reduce cigarette craving. However, the underlying mechanism remains ambiguous. This study investigates this issue with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Thirty-two male chronic smokers received real and sham stimulation over dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) separated by 1 week. The neuroimaging data of the resting state, the smoking cue-reactivity task and the emotion task after stimulation were collected. The craving across the cue-reactivity task was diminished during real stimulation as compared with sham stimulation. The whole-brain analysis on the cue-reactivity task revealed a significant interaction between the stimulation condition (real vs sham) and the cue type (smoking vs neutral) in the left superior frontal gyrus and the left middle frontal gyrus. The functional connectivity between the left DLPFC and the right parahippocampal gyrus, as revealed by both psychophysical interaction analysis and the resting state functional connectivity, is altered by electrical stimulation. Moreover, the craving change across the real and sham condition is predicted by alteration of functional connectivity revealed by psychophysical interaction analysis. The local and long-distance coupling, altered by the electrical stimulation, might be the underlying neural mechanism of craving regulation.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function & Disease, and School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Li-Zhuang
authors.initials: LZ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230001, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Medical Physics and Technology, Center of Medical Physics and Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui 230031, China.
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function & Disease, and School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230001, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Science, Hefei, Anhui 230031, China.
authors.forename: Hongzhi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Science, Hefei, Anhui 230031, China.
authors.forename: Yanfei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function & Disease, and School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function & Disease, and School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Wanwan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230001, China.
authors.forename: Xuebing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72076, Germany.|LEAD Graduate School, University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72076, Germany.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hudak
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function & Disease, and School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Yifeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72076, Germany.|LEAD Graduate School, University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72076, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Fallgatter
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function & Disease, and School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.|School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China.|Center for Biomedical Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Xiaochu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D066249:Craving / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020534:Parahippocampal Gyrus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012907:Smoking / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: DLPFC; addiction; brain stimulation; craving; nicotine dependence; tDCS