Neural Correlates of Risk Taking in Smokers before and after Smoking Abstinence

描述（由申请人提供）：在美国，吸烟是可预防的健康相关发病率和死亡率的主要原因。然而，数百万人决定开始吸烟或继续吸烟，尽管这一广泛的知识，表明冒险行为可能不同的吸烟者和非吸烟者。此外，虽然人们尝试戒烟的主要原因是为了改善他们的健康和长寿，但绝大多数戒烟尝试都失败了，这表明戒烟也可能改变冒险行为。 拟议的研究将联合收割机ASL灌注和BOLD功能MRI与充分验证的行为范例相结合，以功能性地表征N=24名对照受试者和N=24名戒烟前后的活跃吸烟者中的多巴胺能中脑边缘-额叶系统，该系统有助于风险下的决策，为了检验吸烟与这个中脑边缘系统的不同功能有关的假设，以及戒烟改变中脑边缘系统的张力的假设。 由于在中脑边缘系统的音调可以是神经性的，生理性的，和潜在的行为调制，在活跃的和/或戒烟的吸烟者识别该系统的功能的改变可能会建议新的策略，以减少吸烟驱动器和增加戒烟成功。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Smoking is the leading cause of preventable health-related morbidity and mortality in the United States. However, millions of individuals decide to begin to smoke or continue to smoke despite this widespread knowledge, suggesting that risk taking behavior may differ between smokers and nonsmokers. Furthermore, although the major reason people attempt to quit smoking is to improve their health and longevity the overwhelming majority of quit attempts fail, suggesting that smoking cessation may also alter risk taking behavior. The proposed research will combine ASL perfusion and BOLD functional MRI with well- validated behavior paradigms to functionally characterize the dopaminergic mesolimbic- frontal system, which subserves decisions under risk, in N=24 control subjects and N=24 active smokers before and after smoking abstinence, in order to test the hypothesis that smoking is associated with differential function of this mesolimbic system, and that smoking abstinence alters mesolimbic tone. Because the tone in the mesolimbic system can be pharmacologically, physiologically, and potentially behaviorally modulated, the identification of alterations in the functioning of this system in active and/or abstinent smokers may suggest novel strategies to reduce smoking drive and increase quit success.