The Action Representation Elicited by Different Types of Drug-Related Cues in Heroin-Abstinent Individuals.

Hong Zeng,Sabine Vollstädt-Klein,Mengcheng Wang,Haosheng Ye,Qi Chen,Pengfei Wang,Dequan Su

doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00123

Abstract

Drug related cue-induced reactivity plays a significant role in maintaining drug use and relapse in addicted individuals. The activation of Dorsolateral striatum-Sensorimotor system (DLS-SM) has been suggested as an important route through which drug cues may induce automatic drug using behavior. The current study used fMRI to investigate the reactivity of heroin abstinent individuals to different types of cues, to clarify the characteristics of the cues that induce the activation of the sensorimotor area. Forty heroin-dependent abstinent individuals and 29 healthy subjects were recruited to perform the heroin cue-reactivity task during fMRI. The participants’ subjective craving and physical signs were evaluated before and after scanning. Whole-brain analysis showed that compared to drug use tool and drug cues, cues related to drug use action were more likely to activate posterior central gyrus, para-hippocampus, supra marginal gyrus, superior parietal lobule (SPL) and inferior parietal lobule (IPL). These areas are involved in motor preparation and output, indicating that the sensorimotor area is also an important neural basis of craving and automatic drug using behavior, and may mediate craving and drug seeking behavior. Our findings thus suggest that cues related to drug using action may induce automatic drug seeking behavior more than cues related only to the drug itself.

Highlights

drug pictures (Drug) addiction is characterized by compulsive drug taking behavior and high rates of relapse even after many years of abstinence (O’Brien et al, 1977)
The majority of the neuroscience research on drug cue-induced reactivity and its neuronal underpinnings has focused on the mesocorticolimbic system (Grant et al, 1996; Brody et al, 2002; Due et al, 2002; David et al, 2005), including the ventral striatum (VS), extended amygdala, hippocampus, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), prefrontal cortex (PFC) and insula, which are innervated by dopaminergic projections predominantly from the ventral tegmental area
It has long been suggested that there is another route through which drug cues may induce increased drug use, which is the activation of conditioned sensorimotor associations (Tiffany, 1990)

Summary

Introduction

Drug addiction is characterized by compulsive drug taking behavior and high rates of relapse even after many years of abstinence (O’Brien et al, 1977). Exposure to drug-associated cues instigates physiological, behavioral and subjective reactions. This phenomenon, called cue-induced reactivity, includes craving and automatic drug using behavior, in which behavior becomes autonomous and can be performed with little attention, intention, or cognitive effort, constituting a ‘‘habit’’ (Knowlton, 2014). Autonomous behavior is thought to play a significant role in triggering addiction and relapse in drug users. It has long been suggested that there is another route through which drug cues may induce increased drug use, which is the activation of conditioned sensorimotor associations (Tiffany, 1990). Drug cues may induce drug using behavior by activating the corresponding brain regions related to action in heroin abstinent individuals (Yalachkov et al, 2010). There is considerable evidence that the dorsolateral striatum-sensorimotor circle (DLS-SM) is gradually engaged to underlie well established habitual drug seeking behavior (Belin et al, 2009; Vollstädt-Klein et al, 2010; Corbit et al, 2012; Barker and Taylor, 2014; Everitt, 2014)

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Discussion

Conclusion