Neural Correlates of Risk-Taking in Adolescents Exposed to Drugs Prenatally

说明(由申请人提供)：项目摘要(摘要)育龄妇女滥用药物是一个持久的公共卫生问题，因为在产前接触药物会直接改变胎儿发育的进程，并对以后的结果产生不利影响。我们的研究旨在表征产前药物暴露(PDE)对青春期神经行为结果的影响。在这一发育阶段，PDE的影响可能特别显著，因为与对奖励和行为控制的反应相关的脑区发育不平衡，以及社会和环境风险因素的积累。该应用程序的目的是确定PDE如何在行为和神经水平上与青少年自身的冒险倾向相关。我们将使用功能磁共振成像(FMRI)来检查具有PDE病史的青少年的大脑激活情况，这些青少年从出生起就被跟踪，同时完成了一种既定的、生态上有效的、基于计算机的冒险行为评估工具。我们假设，PDE将导致1)由于神经发育中断而导致与奖励通路相关的神经结构和功能的直接变化，以及2)通过改变神经系统的基线活动、增加对社会环境风险因素的易感性以及改变个体对冒险行为的评估和参与而产生的间接影响。这项调查的结果将推动该领域的发展，因为它将认知神经科学的力量和工具应用于药物滥用和成瘾的长期影响。了解PDE如何影响青少年神经水平的功能，对于了解行为影响，包括冒险和其他问题行为的发展至关重要。这些结果将产生重要影响，因为它们将显示PDE对发展的长期后果，并突出与环境的关系。在公共卫生相关主题中整合神经和行为测量的研究是创新的。拟议实验的结果具有重要的公共卫生意义，因为它们可以用来制定有针对性的预防战略，以中断这种危险行为的代际循环。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Project Summary (abstract) Drug abuse among women of child-bearing age is an enduring public health problem because exposure to drugs during the prenatal period can directly alter the course of fetal development and adversely impact later outcomes. Our research aims to characterize effects of prenatal drug exposure (PDE) on neurobehavioral outcomes in adolescence. Effects of PDE may be especially significant during this developmental period due to unbalanced development of brain regions associated with responsiveness to rewards and behavioral control and the accumulation of social and environmental risk factors. The objective of this application is to identify how PDE relates to adolescents' own risk-taking propensity at both the behavioral and neural level. We will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain activation in a well-characterized sample of adolescents with a history of PDE who have been followed since birth while they complete an established, ecologically valid, computer-based assessment tool for risk-taking behavior. We hypothesize that PDE will lead to 1) direct alterations in neural structure and function associated with reward pathways due to disrupted neurodevelopment, and 2) indirect effects by altering the baseline activity of neural systems, increasing vulnerability to socio-environmental risk factors, and altering the individuals' own assessment of and engagement in risk-taking behavior. Results of this investigation will advance the field as it brings the power and tools of cognitive neuroscience to bear on long-term effects of drug abuse and addiction. Understanding how PDE affects functioning at the neural level in adolescents is crucial for understanding behavioral effects, including the development of risk-taking and other problem behaviors. These outcomes will have an important impact as they will demonstrate the long-term consequences of PDE on development and highlight relations with the environment. Research that integrates neural and behavioral measures in public health relevant topics is innovative. The outcomes of the proposed experiment have important public health significance because they can be used to develop targeted prevention strategies to interrupt this intergenerational cycle of risk behavior.