Controlled breathing and neural markers of self-regulation in adolescent smokers

说明(申请人提供)：吸烟通常在青春期开始，是疾病和过早死亡的主要原因。已有几种药物和行为干预措施被用于治疗成人尼古丁依赖，但将这些策略应用于青少年尼古丁依赖的研究很少，而且结果喜忧参半。前景看好的替代疗法仍未得到充分开发。青少年的冒险倾向和自我调节能力不足被认为是导致青少年吸烟的两个因素。这些行为特征可能反映了调节皮质下奖赏回路的前额叶皮质系统的成熟延迟。因此，重要的是探索在这个年龄段加强自我调节行为的治疗策略，以努力减少与吸烟相关的发病率和死亡率。确定这样的策略也可以促进对自我调节的神经基础及其在青春期的发展的理解。初步研究表明，瑜伽控制呼吸技巧的训练可以减少吸烟和尼古丁戒断症状。然而，目前尚不清楚这些影响是否与加强自我监管有关。如果控制呼吸改善自我调节能力，它可能会成为青少年戒烟的一种新的治疗可能性。它价格低廉，易于采用，没有令人不快或不愉快的影响，也不需要广泛的培训。本研究旨在探讨控制呼吸对日常吸烟者高中生行为指标和自我调节神经标记物的影响。参与者(14-18岁)将接受控制呼吸技巧的培训。功能磁共振成像将被用来测量参与者在30分钟的受控呼吸后执行旨在引发情绪反应、渴望和自我调节的任务时的大脑激活，而不是进行引导放松(控制)，以平衡秩序。与情绪和自我调节相关的结构(如杏仁核、前额叶腹外侧皮质)的大脑激活和功能连接 将会被检查。这项拟议的研究将是第一次调查一种简单的、临床上可以接触到的非药物技术对自我调节的行为和神经底物的影响。积极的发现表明，受试样本中受控呼吸改善了自我调节能力，这将证明将这项技术评估为减少青少年吸烟的干预措施是合理的，并有可能用于其他涉及难以监管破坏性行为的应用。好了！

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cigarette smoking is usually initiated in adolescence and constitutes a major cause of disease and premature death. Several pharmacological and behavioral interventions have been used to treat nicotine dependence in adults, but research on the application of these strategies to adolescent nicotine dependence is sparse and has produced mixed results. Promising alternative treatments remain underexplored. The propensity of adolescents for risk-taking and their underdeveloped capacity for self-regulation are two factors thought to contribute to adolescent smoking. These behavioral characteristics likely reflect the maturational delay of prefrontal cortical systems that regulate sub cortical reward circuits. It is therefore important to explore treatment strategies that enhance self-regulation behavior in this age group in efforts to reduce smoking-related morbidity and mortality. Identification of such strategies could also advance understanding of the neural substrates of self-regulation and its development during adolescence. Preliminary studies show that training in yoga-based controlled breathing techniques can reduce smoking and nicotine withdrawal symptoms. However, it is not known whether these effects are linked to enhanced self-regulation. If controlled breathing improves self-regulation, it could have significant potental as a new treatment possibility for adolescent smoking cessation. It is inexpensive, simple to adopt, lacks unpleasant or untoward effects, and does not require extensive training. We propose to investigate the effects of controlled breathing on behavioral indices and neural markers of self-regulation in high-school students who are daily smokers. Participants (ages 14-18) will be trained in controlled breathing techniques. Functional MRI will be used to measure brain activation while participants perform tasks designed to elicit emotional responses, craving, and self-regulation after 30 minutes of controlled breathing as compared to engaging in guided relaxation (control), counterbalanced for order. Brain activation and functional connectivity in structures related to emotion and self-regulation (e.g., amygdala, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex) will be examined. The proposed study will be the first to investigate the effects of a simple, clinically accessible, non- pharmacological technique on behavioral and neural substrates of self-regulation. Positive findings showing that controlled breathing improves self-regulation in the sample tested would justify assessment of this technique as an intervention to reduce adolescent smoking, with potential utility for other applications involving difficulty in regulatin destructive behaviors. !