Dataset Information

Volumetric Prefrontal Cortex Alterations in Patients With Alcohol Dependence and the Involvement of Self-Control.

ABSTRACT: Background:Aspects of self-control such as sensation seeking and impaired impulse control have been implicated in alcohol dependence (ALC). Conversely, sensation seeking has been ascribed a possible protective role in stress-related psychopathologies. We therefore examined gray matter (GM) morphology in individuals with ALC, focusing on differences in prefrontal regions that have been associated with self-control. Additionally, we accounted for differences in lifetime alcohol intake regarding self-control measures and cortical structures in ALC patients.

Methods:With voxel-based morphometry (VBM) focusing on prefrontal a priori defined regions of interest, we assessed a group of 62 detoxified ALC patients and 62 healthy controls (HC). ALC patients were subsequently divided into high (n = 9) and low consumers (n = 53). Self-control was assessed by use of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale and the Sensation Seeking Scale.

Results:Compared to HC, ALC had significantly less GM volume in bilateral middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and right medial prefrontal cortex as well as in the right anterior cingulate. High-consuming ALC showed smaller GM in right orbitofrontal cortex as well as lower sensation seeking scores than low consumers. In low-consuming ALC, right MFG-GM was positively associated with magnitude of sensation seeking; particularly, larger MFG-GM correlated with greater thrill and adventure seeking.

Conclusion:Thus, our findings (i) indicate deficient GM volume in prefrontal areas related to self-control and (ii) might accentuate the phenotypic divergence of ALC patients and emphasize the importance of the development of individual treatment options.

SUBMITTER: Rosenthal A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6904522 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Volumetric Prefrontal Cortex Alterations in Patients With Alcohol Dependence and the Involvement of Self-Control.

Rosenthal Annika A Beck Anne A Zois Evangelos E Vollstädt-Klein Sabine S Walter Henrik H Kiefer Falk F Lohoff Falk W FW Charlet Katrin K

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research 20191105 12

<h4>Background</h4>Aspects of self-control such as sensation seeking and impaired impulse control have been implicated in alcohol dependence (ALC). Conversely, sensation seeking has been ascribed a possible protective role in stress-related psychopathologies. We therefore examined gray matter (GM) morphology in individuals with ALC, focusing on differences in prefrontal regions that have been associated with self-control. Additionally, we accounted for differences in lifetime alcohol intake rega ...[more]

PMID: 31688973

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Project description:Substance-dependent individuals often lack the ability to adjust decisions flexibly in response to the changes in reward contingencies. Prediction errors (PEs) are thought to mediate flexible decision-making by updating the reward values associated with available actions. In this study, we explored whether the neurobiological correlates of PEs are altered in alcohol dependence. Behavioral, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were simultaneously acquired from 34 abstinent alcohol-dependent patients (ADP) and 26 healthy controls (HC) during a probabilistic reward-guided decision-making task with dynamically changing reinforcement contingencies. A hierarchical Bayesian inference method was used to fit and compare learning models with different assumptions about the amount of task-related information subjects may have inferred during the experiment. Here, we observed that the best-fitting model was a modified Rescorla-Wagner type model, the "double-update" model, which assumes that subjects infer the knowledge that reward contingencies are anti-correlated, and integrate both actual and hypothetical outcomes into their decisions. Moreover, comparison of the best-fitting model's parameters showed that ADP were less sensitive to punishments compared to HC. Hence, decisions of ADP after punishments were loosely coupled with the expected reward values assigned to them. A correlation analysis between the model-generated PEs and the fMRI data revealed a reduced association between these PEs and the BOLD activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of ADP. A hemispheric asymmetry was observed in the DLPFC when positive and negative PE signals were analyzed separately. The right DLPFC activity in ADP showed a reduced correlation with positive PEs. On the other hand, ADP, particularly the patients with high dependence severity, recruited the left DLPFC to a lesser extent than HC for processing negative PE signals. These results suggest that the DLPFC, which has been linked to adaptive control of action selection, may play an important role in cognitive inflexibility observed in alcohol dependence when reinforcement contingencies change. Particularly, the left DLPFC may contribute to this impaired behavioral adaptation, possibly by impeding the extinction of the actions that no longer lead to a reward.

Dataset Information

Volumetric Prefrontal Cortex Alterations in Patients With Alcohol Dependence and the Involvement of Self-Control.

Publications

Volumetric Prefrontal Cortex Alterations in Patients With Alcohol Dependence and the Involvement of Self-Control.

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