Neural Mechanisms Associated with Nicotine Addiction and Obesity Co-Morbidities

描述（由申请人提供）：在美国，吸烟和肥胖是可预防的死亡原因。行为学研究表明，与体重健康的吸烟者相比，肥胖吸烟者可能对尼古丁奖励不那么敏感。神经影像学研究表明，吸烟者对吸烟的暗示反应强烈，肥胖人群对食物的暗示反应强烈。在涉及奖励处理和行为控制的大脑区域之间有明显的重叠。这些发现为吸烟、暴饮暴食和其他需要冲动调节的行为的共享神经网络模型提供了支持。然而，当一个人既吸烟又肥胖时，大脑的这些奖励区域是如何对食物和吸烟图像做出反应的，我们知之甚少。这项研究的长期目标是增加我们对奖励神经系统在肥胖和尼古丁成瘾共病情况下的差异反应的理解，这将为肥胖吸烟者的特殊需求设计的戒烟和体重管理治疗方案提供信息。这项拟议中的研究项目将使用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）来检查肥胖和健康体重吸烟者在扫描仪上观看食物和吸烟图像时的奖励神经系统。我们假设，与体重健康的吸烟者相比，肥胖吸烟者对食物线索的反应会增加，对吸烟线索的反应会减少。我们将扫描体重正常的吸烟者和肥胖的吸烟者同时观察吸烟线索和食物线索。该项目将解决以下具体目标：1。描述一组吸烟者（不考虑体重）对偏好物质（食物或吸烟图像）的潜在线索处理的大脑系统。2. 通过检查健康体重组和肥胖吸烟者之间的功能磁共振成像激活差异，确定与共病肥胖和尼古丁成瘾相关的大脑反应。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Tobacco use and obesity are the top preventable causes of death in the United States. Behavioral studies show that obese smokers may be less sensitive to nicotine reward compared to healthy weight smokers. Neuroimaging studies demonstrate that smokers are hyper-responsive to smoking cues and obese groups are hyper-responsive to food cues. There is significant overlap between the brain regions involved in reward processing and behavioral control. These findings have added support to shared neural network models of smoking, overeating, and other behaviors requiring regulation of impulses. However, little is known about how these reward areas of the brain respond to food and smoking images when an individual is both a smoker and obese. The long term goal of this research is to increase our understanding of how the neural systems of reward differentially respond in the case of co-morbid obesity and nicotine addiction, which will inform smoking cessation and weight management treatment programs designed for the specific needs of obese smokers. The proposed research project will employ functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the neural systems of reward while obese and healthy weight smokers view food and smoking images in the scanner. We hypothesize that obese smokers will show increased responses to food cues and decreased responses to smoking cues compared to healthy weight smokers. We will scan healthy weight smokers and obese smokers while they view smoking cues and food cues. The project will address the following Specific Aims: 1. Characterize brain systems underlying cue processing of a preferred substance (food or smoking images) in a combined group of smokers (regardless of weight). 2. Identify brain responses associated with co-morbid obesity and nicotine addiction by examining fMRI activation differences between groups of healthy weight and obese smokers. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Results of this work are highly significant to public health and could lead to a better understanding of how co- morbidities of obesity and nicotine addiction relate to brain activations in response to food and smoking images. Findings from this study will have significant implications for understanding mechanisms of obesity and nicotine addiction, and the effects of co-morbidities on brain function in obese and healthy weight smokers. Findings may eventually lead to more effective interventions.