Document Type
Article
Language
eng
Publication Date
1-15-2008
Publisher
Elsevier
Source Publication
Biological Psychiatry
Source ISSN
0006-3223
Abstract
Background
Human expectation of psychoactive drugs significantly alters drug effects and behavioral responses. However, their neurophysiological mechanisms are not clear. This study investigates how cocaine expectation modulates human brain responses to acute cocaine administration.
Methods
Twenty-six right-handed non–treatment-seeking regular cocaine abusers participated in this study. Changes in blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals were measured, and online behavioral ratings during cocaine expectation and acute cocaine administration were recorded.
Results
Distinct regional characteristics in BOLD responses to expected and unexpected cocaine infusions were observed in the medial orbitofrontal gyrus (Brodmann area [BA] 11), frontal pole (BA 10), and anterior cingulate gyrus regions. Active engagement in the amygdala and the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC; BA 47) by unexpected but not expected cocaine infusion was discovered. Cocaine expectation did not change BOLD responses to acute cocaine administration in a set of subcortical substrates, the nucleus accumbens, ventral putamen, ventral tegmental area, and thalamus.
Conclusions
These results suggest that cocaine expectation modulates neural-sensitivity adaptation between the expected events and the actual outcomes but did not modulate the pharmacological characteristics of cocaine. In addition, the amygdala–lateral OFC circuitry plays an important role in mediating stimulus-outcome relations and contextual factors of drug abuse.
Recommended Citation
Kufahl, Peter; Li, Zhu; Risinger, Robert C.; Rainey, Charles; Piacentine, Linda B.; Wu, Gaohong; Bloom, Alan S.; Yang, Zheng; and Li, Shi-Jiang, "Expectation Modulates Human Brain Responses to Acute Cocaine: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study" (2008). College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications. 680.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/nursing_fac/680
Comments
Accepted version. Biological Psychiatry, Vol. 63, No. 2 (January 15, 2008): 222-230. DOI. © 2008 Elsevier. Used with permission.
Linda Piacentine was affiliated with the Medical College of Wisconsin at the time of publication.