Intrinsic connectivity demonstrates a shared role of the posterior cingulate for cue reactivity in both gambling and cocaine use disorders

Anthony G Vaccaro; Cheryl M Lacadie; Marc N Potenza

doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2024.108027

Intrinsic connectivity demonstrates a shared role of the posterior cingulate for cue reactivity in both gambling and cocaine use disorders

Addict Behav. 2024 Apr 4:155:108027. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2024.108027. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Anthony G Vaccaro¹, Cheryl M Lacadie², Marc N Potenza³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
² Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling, Wethersfield, CT, USA; Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, CT, USA; Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. Electronic address: marc.potenza@yale.edu.

PMID: 38581751
DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2024.108027

Abstract

Cue reactivity is relevant across addictive disorders as a process relevant to maintenance, relapse, and craving. Understanding the neurobiological foundations of cue reactivity across substance and behavioral addictions has important implications for intervention development. The present study used intrinsic connectivity distribution methods to examine functional connectivity during a cue-exposure fMRI task involving gambling, cocaine and sad videos in 22 subjects with gambling disorder, 24 with cocaine use disorder, and 40 healthy comparison subjects. Intrinsic connectivity distribution implicated the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) at a stringent whole-brain threshold. Post-hoc analyses investigating the nature of the findings indicated that individuals with gambling disorder and cocaine use disorder exhibited decreased connectivity in the posterior cingulate during gambling and cocaine cues, respectively, as compared to other cues and compared to other groups. Brain-related cue reactivity in substance and behavioral addictions involve PCC connectivity in a content-to-disorder specific fashion. The findings suggesting that PCC-related circuitry underlies cue reactivity across substance and behavioral addictions suggests a potential biomarker for targeting in intervention development.

Keywords: Addictive behavior; Cocaine use disorder; Compulsive behavior; Craving; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Gambling disorder; Impulsive behavior; Posterior cingulate cortex.