FUNCTIONAL NEUROANATOMY OF ACUTE NICOTINIC MODULATION OF IMPULSIVITY IN WOMEN

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 在美国，吸烟是可预防的死亡的主要原因，女性吸烟者比男性吸烟者更难戒烟。了解与吸烟易感性、吸烟维持和戒烟失败相关的因素是行为研究的重要目标。仔细描述导致吸烟易感性的行为因素的神经生物学基础，可能有助于开发更有效的预防吸烟和戒烟的干预措施。与女性吸烟有关的一个有希望的行为特征是冲动。众所周知，女性吸烟者在几种不同的冲动指标上比不吸烟者更冲动。此外，急性尼古丁已被证明可以降低高度冲动的女性非吸烟者的冲动。最近的研究已经开始确定测量冲动的任务，特别是停止信号任务(SST)所涉及的潜在功能神经解剖学。这项研究的目标是检验女性大脑活动的变化与尼古丁管理相关的冲动改善有关。 这是一项试验性的大脑成像研究，研究了女性吸烟者和不吸烟者在停止信号任务(一种冲动测试)执行过程中大脑激活的模式。将对三组女性进行研究：高冲动女性吸烟者、高冲动女性不吸烟者和低冲动女性不吸烟者。每个受试者将参加两个研究日，在此期间，他们将在核磁共振扫描仪中接受冲动评估。有一天，受试者会服用尼古丁，有一天，他们会服用安慰剂。用药将以双盲方式进行，药物和安慰剂的顺序将是随机的。 从这项研究中获得的知识将提供一个重要的概念证据，即通过功能磁共振成像测量的停止信号任务期间的大脑活动对可被尼古丁改变的冲动性的差异很敏感。这项研究将有助于我们理解吸烟行为过程之一的神经机制，该过程有助于吸烟的启动和维持。该模型还可用于其他滥用药物的检验。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. and female smokers have more difficulty quitting smoking than do male smokers. Understanding the factors that relate to vulnerability to smoking, maintenance of smoking, and failure to quit smoking is an important goal of behavioral research. Careful characterization of the neurobiological underpinnings of behavioral factors that contribute to vulnerability to smoking may help to develop more effective interventions for both smoking prevention and smoking cessation. One promising behavioral characteristic related to cigarette smoking in women is impulsivity. Female smokers are known to be more impulsive than non-smokers on several different measures of impulsivity. In addition, acute nicotine has been shown to reduce impulsivity in female non-smokers who are highly impulsive. Recent studies have begun to identify the underlying functional neuroanatomy involved in tasks that measure impulsivity particularly the Stop Signal Task (SST). The goal of this research study is to examine changes in brain activity associated with improvements in impulsivity related to nicotine administration in women. This is a pilot brain imaging study examining patterns of brain activation during performance of the Stop Signal Task (a test of impulsivity) in women smokers and non-smokers. Three groups of women will be studied; high impulsive female smokers, high impulsive female non-smokers, and low impulsive female non-smokers. Each subject will participate in two study days during which they will have their impulsivity assessed while in the MRI scanner. On one day subjects will take nicotine and on one day they will take placebo. Medication will be administered in a double blind fashion and the order of drug and placebo will be randomized. The knowledge gained from this study will provide an important "proof of concept" that the brain activity during the Stop Signal Task as measured by fMRI is sensitive to differences in impulsivity which is modifiable by nicotine. This research will help our understanding of the neural mechanisms of one of the behavioral processes that contribute to the initiation and maintenance of smoking. This model may additionally be useful for the examination of other drugs of abuse.