Brain Imaging of Tobacco Craving Using fMRI

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DESCRIPTION: (provided by applicant) Over this last decade, research on the significance of craving in understanding the neurobiological basis of addiction and for developing new therapies that specifically target craving has increased exponentially with special funding initiatives promulgated by both NIDA and NIAAA. Several investigators have embarked upon neuroimaging studies to identify the brain regions mediating the subjective and behavioral manifestations of craving. The purpose of this application is to utilize well-established imagery techniques for the elicitation of craving for cigarettes in conjunction with fMRI to identify the specific brain regions whose pattern of activation is associated with craving. One feature of the proposed research is the use of imagery procedures in which smoking-urge material is presented in a context that also produces positive, negative or neutral emotional mood states that are matched in terms of vividness. Those patterns of brain activation associated with craving, and independent of the emotional context, are of special interest. Prior research indicating the importance of limbic system activation during periods of drug craving will guide our research. However, the present design allows the determination of whether the emotional tone provoked by craving material is important in determining the pattern of brain activation. The results of this research will provide techniques for studying potential behavioral and pharmacological treatment interventions using both self-report of craving and fMRI patterns of brain activation as end points. Further, the development of reliable and valid self-report and fMRI techniques for studying the neural correlates of craving will permit future research examining how variables that modulate self-reported measures of craving change the pattern of brain activation. Those areas of brain activation that are most strongly associated with variations in self-reports of craving are most likely to be of functional significance and therefore potentially important end points for pharmacological interventions. Finally, because nicotine dependence is a prototypic addiction, this research should provide a model for similar research with other drug dependencies.