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. 2020 Oct;14(5):1731-1746.
doi: 10.1007/s11682-019-00107-6.

Binge drinking is associated with altered resting state functional connectivity of reward-salience and top down control networks

Donatello Arienzo  1 , Joseph P Happer  2 , Sean M Molnar  1 , Austin Alderson-Myers  1 , Ksenija Marinkovic  3   4
Affiliations

Binge drinking is associated with altered resting state functional connectivity of reward-salience and top down control networks

Donatello Arienzo et al. Brain Imaging Behav. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Binge drinking is characterized by bouts of high-intensity alcohol intake and is associated with an array of health-related harms. Even though the transition from occasional impulsive to addictive alcohol use is not well understood, neurobiological models of addiction suggest that repeated cycles of intoxication and withdrawal contribute to the development of addiction in part through dysregulation of neurofunctional networks. Research on the neural sequelae associated with binge drinking is scant but resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) studies of alcohol use disorders (AUD) indicate that the development and maintenance of long-term excessive drinking may be mediated by network-level disruptions. The present study examined RSFC in young adult binge (BD) and light (LD) drinkers with seeds representing the networks subserving reward (the nucleus accumbens and caudate nucleus), salience (anterior cingulate cortex, ACC), and executive control (inferior frontal cortex, IFC). BDs exhibited enhanced connectivity between the striatal reward areas and the orbitofrontal cortex and the ACC, which is consistent with AUD studies and may be indicative of alcohol-motivated appetitive behaviors. Conversely, BDs demonstrated lower connectivity between the IFC and hippocampus which was associated with higher craving. This may indicate impaired ability to suppress unwanted thoughts and a failure to employ memory of the harmful consequences of heavy drinking in prospective plans and intentions. The observed greater connectivity of the reward/salience network and the lower prefrontal-hippocampal connectivity were associated with hazardous drinking levels indicating that dysregulation of neurofunctional networks may underlie binge drinking patterns.

Keywords: Anterior cingulate cortex; Binge drinking; Control networks; Hippocampus; Medial prefrontal cortex; Nucleus accumbens; Orbitofrontal cortex; Resting state functional connectivity; Reward; Salience.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest:

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Seed regions shown in slices along the z-axis are based on the atlas used by CONN-fMRI Functional Connectivity toolbox
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Seed-to-voxel resting state connectivity maps (upper panel) and the corresponding bar graphs of connectivity values (lower panel). Compared to LD, BD participants show (A) higher connectivity between the left caudate (seed region) and the clusters in the OFC and ACC; (B) higher connectivity between the right NAcc (seed region) and the clusters in the OFC; (C) lower connectivity between the right IFC (seed region) and the clusters in the hippocampus (Hc)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Scatter plots of the representative correlations between connectivity indices and drinking variables. Red and blue colors signify BD and LD respectively..
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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