Journal
PSYCHIATRY RESEARCH-NEUROIMAGING
Volume 155, Issue 3, Pages 189-201Publisher
ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2007.03.002
Keywords
fMRI; PET; visual attention; dopamine; norepinephrine; addict
Categories
Funding
- NCRR NIH HHS [M01-RR-10710, M01 RR010710] Funding Source: Medline
- NIDA NIH HHS [R03 DA017070-01, R03 DA017070, K23 DA015517, R03 DA 017070-01, K23 DA15517-01] Funding Source: Medline
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Cocaine affects sensory perception and attention, but little is known about the neural substrates underlying these effects in the human brain. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a sustained visuospatial attention task to assess if the visual attention network is dysfunctional in cocaine abusers (n = 14) compared to age-, gender-, and education-matched controls (n= 14). Compared with controls, cocaine abusers showed (1) hypo-activation of the thalamus, which may reflect noradrenergic and/or dopaminergic deficits; (2) hyper-activation in occipital and prefrontal cortices, which may reflect increased visual cortical processing to compensate for inefficient visual thalamic processing; and (3) larger deactivation of parietal and frontal regions possibly to support the larger hemodynamic supply to the hyper-activated brain regions. These findings provide evidence of abnormalities in thalamo-cortical responses in cocaine abusers that are likely to contribute to the impairments in sensory processing and in attention. The development of therapies that diminish these thalamo-cortical deficits could improve the treatment of cocaine addiction. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
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