The association between cue-reactivity in the precuneus and level of dependence on nicotine and alcohol

Abstract

Background: Given numerous reports implicating involvement of the precuneus in cue-reactivity paradigms, the goal of this investigation was to examine the relationship between activation of the precuneus in response to drug cues and measures of subjective craving and severity of dependence in volunteers who were comorbid for alcohol and nicotine abuse.

Methods: Forty research participants, who all reported heavy drinking and daily smoking, were recruited (15 women; 70% Caucasian; mean age=31.2 years) for a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session involving a cigarette video-cues task and an alcohol taste-cues task. Mean precuneus activation from both tasks during cue presentation was subjected to bivariate correlation analyses with indices of dependence severity and subjective craving.

Results: Precuneus activation in the contrast of Cigarette Cues vs. Control Cues was positively correlated with scores on the Fagerström Test of Nicotine Dependence (r=0.389, p=0.016), and activation in the Alcohol Cues vs. Control Cues contrast was positively correlated with Alcohol Dependence Scale scores (r=0.338, p=0.038). No correlations with subjective craving were observed (ps>0.05).

Conclusions: These findings indicate that the precuneus is involved in cue reactivity for both cigarettes and alcohol, and that this involvement is moderated by severity of drug dependence. The precuneus may be a cortical locus for neuroplastic changes related to drug dependence.

Keywords: Alcohol use disorder; Cigarettes; Craving; Cue-reactivity; Precuneus; fMRI.

Figure 1

Precuneus region of interest spheres (8mm radius) centered on the mean peak voxels produced using a “leave-one-out” procedure for the cigarette and alcohol cues tasks separately. The mean peak voxels from the precuneus were located at the following MNI coordinates: x=2.4, y=−65.6, z=29.2 (Cigarette Cues vs. Control Cues; depicted in yellow) and x=−5, y=−47, z=37 (Alcohol Cues vs. Control Cues; depicted in blue).

Figure 2

Line plot of self-reported, subjective craving levels following a) cigarette and non-cigarette control cues, and b) alcohol and water control cues. *p <0.001.

Figure 3

Scatterplot of precuneus activation (fMRI parameter estimates) from the Cigarette Cues vs. Control Cues contrast (controlling for medication group) and Fagerström Test of Nicotine Dependence (FTND) score. The fit line represents a R² = 0.151.

Figure 4

Scatterplot of precuneus activation (fMRI parameter estimates) from the Alcohol Cues vs. Control Cues contrast (controlling for medication group) and Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADS) score. The fit line represents a R² = 0.114.