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Bradford DE, DeFalco A, Perkins ER, Carbajal I, Kwasa J, Goodman FR, Jackson F, Richardson LNS, Woodley N, Neuberger L, Sandoval JA, Huang HJ, Joyner KJ. Whose Signals Are Being Amplified? Toward a More Equitable Clinical Psychophysiology. Clin Psychol Sci 2024; 12:237-252. [PMID: 38645420 PMCID: PMC11028731 DOI: 10.1177/21677026221112117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
Research using psychophysiological methods holds great promise for refining clinical assessment, identifying risk factors, and informing treatment. Unfortunately, unique methodological features of existing approaches limit inclusive research participation and, consequently, generalizability. This brief overview and commentary provides a snapshot of the current state of representation in clinical psychophysiology, with a focus on the forms and consequences of ongoing exclusion of Black participants. We illustrate issues of inequity and exclusion that are unique to clinical psychophysiology, considering intersections among social constructions of Blackness and biased design of current technology used to measure electroencephalography, skin conductance, and other signals. We then highlight work by groups dedicated to quantifying and addressing these limitations. We discuss the need for reflection and input from a wider variety of stakeholders to develop and refine new technologies, given the risk of further widening disparities. Finally, we provide broad recommendations for clinical psychophysiology research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Iván Carbajal
- Oregon State University, School of Psychological Science
| | - Jasmine Kwasa
- Carnegie Mellon University, Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition
| | - Fallon R. Goodman
- George Washington University, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Helen J. Huang
- University of Central Florida, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
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2
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Bradford DE, Dev AS, DeFalco A, Whittaker F, Timpano KR. Increasing ecological validity in neuropsychopharmacology research on the relationship between alcohol use and uncertain stressors. Neuropsychopharmacology 2024; 49:353-354. [PMID: 37488283 PMCID: PMC10724294 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-023-01672-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Revised: 06/24/2023] [Accepted: 07/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/26/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel E Bradford
- School of Psychological Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
| | - Amelia S Dev
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
| | - Angelica DeFalco
- School of Psychological Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Freya Whittaker
- School of Psychological Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Kiara R Timpano
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
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Bradford DE, Shireman JM, Sant’Ana SJ, Fronk GE, Schneck SE, Curtin JJ. Alcohol's effects during uncertain and uncontrollable stressors in the laboratory. Clin Psychol Sci 2022; 10:885-900. [PMID: 36111103 PMCID: PMC9472562 DOI: 10.1177/21677026211061355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/26/2023]
Abstract
Alcohol's effects on reactivity to stressors depends on the nature of the stressor and the reactivity being assessed. Research identifying characteristics of stressors that modulate reactivity and clarifies the neurobehavioral, cognitive, and affective components of this reactivity may help prevent, reduce or treat the negative impacts of acute and chronic alcohol use with implications for other psychopathology involving maladaptive reactivity to stressors. We used a novel, multi-measure, cued electric shock stressor paradigm in a greater university community sample of adult recreational drinkers to test how alcohol (N=64), compared to No-alcohol (N=64), effects reactivity to stressors that vary in both their perceived certainty and controllability. Preregistered analyses suggested alcohol significantly dampened subjective anxiety (self-report) and defensive reactivity (startle potentiation) more during uncertain than during certain stressors regardless of controllability, suggesting that stressor uncertainty -but not uncontrollability- may be sufficient to enhance alcohol's stress reactivity dampening and thus negative reinforcement potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel E. Bradford
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA
- School of Psychological Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
| | - Jack M. Shireman
- Neuroscience Training Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Sarah J. Sant’Ana
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Gaylen E. Fronk
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Susan E. Schneck
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - John J. Curtin
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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Fronk GE, Sant'Ana SJ, Kaye JT, Curtin JJ. Stress Allostasis in Substance Use Disorders: Promise, Progress, and Emerging Priorities in Clinical Research. Annu Rev Clin Psychol 2020; 16:401-430. [PMID: 32040338 PMCID: PMC7259491 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-102419-125016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Clinicians and researchers alike have long believed that stressors play a pivotal etiologic role in risk, maintenance, and/or relapse of alcohol and other substance use disorders (SUDs). Numerous seminal and contemporary theories on SUD etiology posit that stressors may motivate drug use and that individuals who use drugs chronically may display altered responses to stressors. We use foundational basic stress biology research as a lens through which to evaluate critically the available evidence to support these key stress-SUD theses in humans. Additionally, we examine the field's success to date in targeting stressors and stress allostasis in treatments for SUDs. We conclude with our recommendations for how best to advance our understanding of the relationship between stressors and drug use, and we discuss clinical implications for treatment development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaylen E Fronk
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA; , ,
| | - Sarah J Sant'Ana
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA; , ,
| | - Jesse T Kaye
- William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA;
- Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin 53711, USA
| | - John J Curtin
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA; , ,
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Gorka SM, Kreutzer KA, Petrey KM, Radoman M, Phan KL. Behavioral and neural sensitivity to uncertain threat in individuals with alcohol use disorder: Associations with drinking behaviors and motives. Addict Biol 2020; 25:e12774. [PMID: 31173426 PMCID: PMC6898728 DOI: 10.1111/adb.12774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2018] [Revised: 04/10/2019] [Accepted: 04/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
A developing theory is that individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) display exaggerated reactivity to threats that are uncertain (U-threat), which facilitates excessive drinking as a means of avoidance-based coping. There is a promising initial behavioral evidence supporting this theory; however, the neural bases of reactivity to U-threat in individuals with AUD have not been examined. The extent to which biomarkers of U-threat reactivity map onto drinking behaviors and coping motives for alcohol use is also unknown. The current study therefore examined group differences in behavioral and neural reactivity to U-threat in adults with and without AUD. The study also tested whether behavior and brain responses to U-threat correlate with problematic drinking and coping motivated drinking. Volunteers (n = 65) with and without a history of AUD (38 AUD, 27 controls) were included and completed a well-validated threat-of-shock task to probe responses to U-threat and predictable threat (P-threat) while startle eyeblink potentiation was collected. Individuals also completed a newly designed, analogous version of the task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Results indicated that individuals with AUD displayed greater startle magnitude during U-threat, but not P-threat, and greater right insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activation during both forms of threat compared with controls. Startle magnitude and insula activation during U-threat positively correlated with self-reported problem drinking and coping motives for alcohol use. Findings demonstrate that individuals with AUD display exaggerated sensitivity to U-threat at the behavioral and neural level and that these multimethod biomarkers tap into negative reinforcement processes of alcohol abuse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie M. Gorka
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois-Chicago, 1601 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612
- University of Illinois-Chicago, Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics (CARE), 1601 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois-Chicago, 1007 West Harrison St. (M/C 285), Chicago, IL 60607
| | - Kayla A. Kreutzer
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois-Chicago, 1601 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612
| | - Kelsey M. Petrey
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois-Chicago, 1601 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612
| | - Milena Radoman
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois-Chicago, 1601 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612
- University of Illinois-Chicago; Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology & the Graduate Program in Neuroscience, 808 S. Wood Street, Chicago, IL 60612
| | - K. Luan Phan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois-Chicago, 1601 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois-Chicago, 1007 West Harrison St. (M/C 285), Chicago, IL 60607
- Jesse Brown VA Medical Center; Mental Health Service Line, 820 S. Damen Avenue, Chicago, IL 60612
- University of Illinois-Chicago; Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology & the Graduate Program in Neuroscience, 808 S. Wood Street, Chicago, IL 60612
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Radoman M, Akinbo FD, Rospenda KM, Gorka SM. The impact of startle reactivity to unpredictable threat on the relation between bullying victimization and internalizing psychopathology. J Psychiatr Res 2019; 119:7-13. [PMID: 31520836 PMCID: PMC6876702 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2019.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2019] [Revised: 08/07/2019] [Accepted: 09/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Being bullied has detrimental effects on mental health functioning. Individuals who are highly reactive to unpredictable threats (U-threat) may be particularly vulnerable to the negative consequences of being bullied. For them, persistent, unpredictable bullying likely elicits chronic anticipatory anxiety and depression. The aim of the present study was to examine the main and interactive effects of aversive reactivity to U-threat and past-year bullying victimization on current anxiety and depressive symptoms. METHODS Seventy-one young adults (ages 17-19) completed a well-validated threat-of-shock task used to probe reactivity to both U-threat and predictable threat (P-threat). Startle eyeblink potentiation was recorded to index aversive responding. RESULTS We found a main effect of bullying, such that individuals with more bullying experience exhibited greater anxiety and depressive symptoms than individuals with less bullying experience. There was also a bullying by U-threat reactivity interaction such that among individuals with high reactivity to U-threat, more bullying experience was associated with more anxiety and depressive symptoms. Among individuals with low U-threat reactivity, there was no association between bullying and internalizing symptoms. There were no main or interactive effects involving reactivity to P-threat. CONCLUSIONS Together, these results suggest that among individuals who are bullied, those who are sensitive to U-threat are particularly vulnerable to depression and anxiety in young adulthood. These individuals may represent a high-risk group for the development of internalizing psychopathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Milena Radoman
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL,Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, and the Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
| | - Fikayo D. Akinbo
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
| | | | - Stephanie M. Gorka
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL,Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
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Acute prazosin administration does not reduce stressor reactivity in healthy adults. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2019; 236:3371-3382. [PMID: 31197436 PMCID: PMC6832815 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-019-05297-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2019] [Accepted: 06/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Norepinephrine plays a critical role in the stress response. Clarifying the psychopharmacological effects of norepinephrine manipulation on stress reactivity in humans has important implications for basic neuroscience and treatment of stress-related psychiatric disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorders. Preclinical research implicates the norepinephrine alpha-1 receptor in responses to stressors. The No Shock, Predictable Shock, Unpredictable Shock (NPU) task is a human laboratory paradigm that is well positioned to test cross-species neurobiological stress mechanisms and advance experimental therapeutic approaches to clinical trials testing novel treatments for psychiatric disorders. OBJECTIVES We hypothesized that acute administration of prazosin, a noradrenergic alpha-1 antagonist, would have a larger effect on reducing stress reactivity during unpredictable, compared to predictable, stressors in the NPU task. METHODS We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover randomized controlled trial in which 64 healthy adults (32 female) completed the NPU task at two visits (2 mg prazosin vs. placebo). RESULTS A single acute dose of 2 mg prazosin did not reduce stress reactivity in a healthy adult sample. Neither NPU startle potentiation nor self-reported anxiety was reduced by prazosin (vs. placebo) during unpredictable (vs. predictable) stressors. CONCLUSIONS Further research is needed to determine whether this failure to translate preclinical neuroscience to human laboratory models is due to methodological factors (e.g., acute vs. chronic drug administration, brain penetration, study population) and/or suggests limited clinical utility of noradrenergic alpha-1 antagonists for treating stress-related psychiatric disorders.
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Hur J, Stockbridge MD, Fox AS, Shackman AJ. Dispositional negativity, cognition, and anxiety disorders: An integrative translational neuroscience framework. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2019; 247:375-436. [PMID: 31196442 PMCID: PMC6578598 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2019.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
When extreme, anxiety can become debilitating. Anxiety disorders, which often first emerge early in development, are common and challenging to treat, yet the underlying mechanisms have only recently begun to come into focus. Here, we review new insights into the nature and biological bases of dispositional negativity, a fundamental dimension of childhood temperament and adult personality and a prominent risk factor for the development of pediatric and adult anxiety disorders. Converging lines of epidemiological, neurobiological, and mechanistic evidence suggest that dispositional negativity increases the likelihood of psychopathology via specific neurocognitive mechanisms, including attentional biases to threat and deficits in executive control. Collectively, these observations provide an integrative translational framework for understanding the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders in adults and youth and set the stage for developing improved intervention strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juyoen Hur
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States.
| | | | - Andrew S Fox
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, United States; California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Alexander J Shackman
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States; Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States; Maryland Neuroimaging Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States.
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9
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Ruisoto P, Contador I. The role of stress in drug addiction. An integrative review. Physiol Behav 2019; 202:62-68. [PMID: 30711532 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.01.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2018] [Revised: 01/30/2019] [Accepted: 01/30/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The high prevalence and burden to society of drug abuse and addiction is undisputed. However, its conceptualisation as a brain disease is controversial, and available interventions insufficient. Research on the role of stress in drug addiction may bridge positions and develop more effective interventions. AIM The aim of this paper is to integrate the most influential literature to date on the role of stress in drug addiction. METHODS A literature search was conducted of the core collections of Web of Science and Semantic Scholar on the topic of stress and addiction from a neurobiological perspective in humans. The most frequently cited articles and related references published in the last decade were finally redrafted into a narrative review based on 130 full-text articles. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION First, a brief overview of the neurobiology of stress and drug addiction is provided. Then, the role of stress in drug addiction is described. Stress is conceptualised as a major source of allostatic load, which result in progressive long-term changes in the brain, leading to a drug-prone state characterized by craving and increased risk of relapse. The effects of stress on drug addiction are mainly mediated by the action of corticotropin-releasing factor and other stress hormones, which weaken the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex and strengthen the amygdala, leading to a negative emotional state, craving and lack of executive control, increasing the risk of relapse. Both, drugs and stress result in an allostatic overload responsible for neuroadaptations involved in most of the key features of addiction: reward anticipation/craving, negative affect, and impaired executive functions, involved in three stages of addiction and relapse. CONCLUSION This review elucidates the crucial role of stress in drug addiction and highlights the need to incorporate the social context where brain-behaviour relationships unfold into the current model of addition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo Ruisoto
- Department of Psychobiology, Methodology and Behavioral Sciences, Faculty of Psychology, University of Salamanca, Spain.
| | - Israel Contador
- Department of Psychobiology, Methodology and Behavioral Sciences, Faculty of Psychology, University of Salamanca, Spain
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Hefner KR, Starr MJ, Curtin JJ. Heavy marijuana use but not deprivation is associated with increased stressor reactivity. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 2019; 127:348-358. [PMID: 29745700 DOI: 10.1037/abn0000344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Although stressors appear to motivate marijuana use, and marijuana use, in turn, is believed to induce stress system neuroadaptations, relatively little empirical work has explicitly tested for stress neuroadaptations associated with heavy marijuana use. We examined stressor reactivity to threat of unpredictable electric shock via startle potentiation among heavy marijuana users and a control group that reported minimal history of marijuana use. Heavy marijuana users were randomly assigned to 3 days of marijuana deprivation or no deprivation. This design allowed us to test contrasts for heavy (vs. minimal) use and deprivation (vs. no deprivation) on stressor reactivity. Heavy marijuana users (both deprived and nondeprived) displayed increased startle potentiation during threat of unpredictable electric shock relative to minimal use controls. In contrast, marijuana deprivation had no effect on startle potentiation. Startle potentiation was also increased among users who reported greater stress-coping motives for their marijuana use and users with cannabis use disorder diagnoses. To our knowledge, this is the 1st study to demonstrate increased reactivity to unpredictable stressors among heavy marijuana users. However, comparable increased unpredictable stressor reactivity among patients with alcohol and other substance use disorders has been previously documented. This relationship to heavy marijuana use is consistent with predictions from rodent addiction models regarding stress neuroadaptations following heavy, chronic drug use but could also represent an etiologically relevant premorbid risk characteristic. Finally, the clinical import of unpredictable stressor reactivity is reinforced by its relationships with stress-coping motives and cannabis use disorder status. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mark J Starr
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
| | - John J Curtin
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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11
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Reed SC, Haney M, Manubay J, Campagna BR, Reed B, Foltin RW, Evans SM. Sex differences in stress reactivity after intranasal oxytocin in recreational cannabis users. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2018; 176:72-82. [PMID: 30521833 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2018.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2018] [Revised: 10/30/2018] [Accepted: 11/26/2018] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drugs and the changing legal, political and cultural climate will likely increase cannabis use further. One factor that may underlie the transition from recreational use to problematic use is stress. The hormone oxytocin (OXT) modulates stress and may have therapeutic efficacy for substance use disorders, but few studies have examined OXT in cannabis users. Another factor is sex; although more men smoke cannabis, the transition from recreational to problematic use is faster in women. Using a within-subjects design, the effects of intranasal (i.n.) oxytocin (OXT; 40 IU) administration on stress reactivity (using the Trier Social Stress Test; TSST) and cannabis (5.6% THC) self-administration was assessed in recreational cannabis using men (n = 31) and women (n = 32) relative to i.n. placebo (PBO) and no-stress (NST) conditions. The TSST produced expected subjective and cardiovascular effects compared to the NST. However, in the i.n. OXT-TSST condition, positive subjective effects were lower and negative subjective effects were higher in women compared to PBO administration and compared to men. Further, latency to self-administer cannabis was longer in women than men and women self-administered less cannabis than men regardless of stress condition. There were no differences in cannabis craving as a function of sex, stress, or medication. These results suggest that OXT administration may lead to greater stress reactivity in recreational cannabis users, particularly women, and support growing evidence that sex differences should be carefully considered when examining the therapeutic potential of OXT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie C Reed
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, United States of America; Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, United States of America.
| | - Margaret Haney
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, United States of America; Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, United States of America
| | - Jeanne Manubay
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, United States of America; Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, United States of America
| | - Bianca R Campagna
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, United States of America
| | - Brian Reed
- Rockefeller University, New York, NY, United States of America
| | - Richard W Foltin
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, United States of America; Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, United States of America
| | - Suzette M Evans
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, United States of America; Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, United States of America
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12
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Acute alcohol administration dampens central extended amygdala reactivity. Sci Rep 2018; 8:16702. [PMID: 30420682 PMCID: PMC6232084 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-34987-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2018] [Accepted: 09/28/2018] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Alcohol use is common, imposes a staggering burden on public health, and often resists treatment. The central extended amygdala (EAc)—including the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) and the central nucleus of the amygdala (Ce)—plays a key role in prominent neuroscientific models of alcohol drinking, but the relevance of these regions to acute alcohol consumption in humans remains poorly understood. Using a single-blind, randomized-groups design, multiband fMRI data were acquired from 49 social drinkers while they performed a well-established emotional faces paradigm after consuming either alcohol or placebo. Relative to placebo, alcohol significantly dampened reactivity to emotional faces in the BST. To rigorously assess potential regional differences in activation, data were extracted from unbiased, anatomically predefined regions of interest. Analyses revealed similar levels of dampening in the BST and Ce. In short, alcohol transiently reduces reactivity to emotional faces and it does so similarly across the two major divisions of the human EAc. These observations reinforce the translational relevance of addiction models derived from preclinical work in rodents and provide new insights into the neural systems most relevant to the consumption of alcohol and to the initial development of alcohol abuse in humans.
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Verplaetse TL, McKee SA. Targeting Stress Neuroadaptations for Addiction Treatment: A Commentary on Kaye et al. (2017). J Stud Alcohol Drugs 2018; 78:372-374. [PMID: 28499101 DOI: 10.15288/jsad.2017.78.372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | - Sherry A McKee
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
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Abstract
Animal models provide rapid, inexpensive assessments of an investigational drug's therapeutic potential. Ideally, they support the plausibility of therapeutic efficacy and provide a rationale for further investigation. Here, I discuss how the absence of clear effective-ineffective categories for alcohol use disorder (AUD) medications and biases in the clinical and preclinical literature affect the development of predictive preclinical alcohol dependence (AD) models. Invoking the analogical argument concept from the philosophy of science field, I discuss how models of excessive alcohol drinking support the plausibility of clinical pharmacotherapy effects. Even though these models are not likely be completely discriminative, they are sensitive to clinically effective medications and have revealed dozens of novel medication targets. In that context, I discuss recent preclinical work on GLP-1 receptor agonists, phosphodiesterase inhibitors, glucocorticoid receptor antagonists, nociception agonists and antagonists, and CRF1 antagonists. Clinically approved medications are available for each of these drug classes. I conclude by advocating a translational approach in which drugs are evaluated highly congruent preclinical models and human laboratory studies. Once translation is established, I suggest the burden is to develop hypothesis-based therapeutic interventions maximizing the impact of the confirmed pharmacotherapeutic effects in the context of additional variables falling outside the model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Egli
- Division of Neuroscience and Behavior, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
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15
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Gorka SM, Shankman SA. Preliminary evidence that reactivity to uncertain threat is an endophenotype for alcohol use disorder. Drug Alcohol Depend 2017; 180:265-271. [PMID: 28938184 PMCID: PMC5679723 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.08.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2017] [Revised: 08/21/2017] [Accepted: 08/22/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Having an exaggerated reactivity to threats that are uncertain (U-threat) may facilitate the initiation and maintenance of excessive alcohol use in some individuals. This abnormality may not just be a concomitant for alcohol use disorder (AUD), but also an endophenotype for AUD. METHOD The aim of the current study was therefore to provide a preliminary test of whether U-threat is an endophenotype for AUD using several of the endophenotype criteria outlined by Gottesman and Gould (2003). Specifically, the study examined whether heightened U-threat reactivity is evidenced in those with: 1) current AUD; 2) remitted AUD (early and sustained remission examined separately); and 3) at-risk for AUD by virtue of having a positive family history of AUD. Participants (N = 147) completed a well-validated threat-of-shock task and startle eyeblink potentiation was collected as an index of aversive responding. Individuals and all available first-degree family members were diagnosed using structured clinical interviews. RESULTS Individuals at-risk for AUD, with current AUD, and AUD in remission (both early and sustained) all displayed exaggerated reactivity to U-threat, but not predictable threat, compared with non-AUD controls. Moreover, there were no significant differences between the at-risk and any of the AUD groups indicating that exaggerated reactivity to U-threat is relatively state-independent and present regardless of current AUD disease status. CONCLUSIONS The findings together highlight that exaggerated reactivity to U-threat may be a promising endophenotype for AUD that can aid in the refinement of mechanistic AUD disease models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie M. Gorka
- University of Illinois-Chicago; Department of Psychiatry, 1747 West Roosevelt Road Chicago, IL 60608
| | - Stewart A. Shankman
- University of Illinois-Chicago; Department of Psychiatry, 1747 West Roosevelt Road Chicago, IL 60608,University of Illinois-Chicago; Department of Psychology, 1007 West Harrison St. (M/C 285) Chicago, IL 60607
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Bradford DE, Motschman CA, Starr MJ, Curtin JJ. Alcohol's effects on emotionally motivated attention, defensive reactivity and subjective anxiety during uncertain threats. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2017; 12:1823-1832. [PMID: 28985425 PMCID: PMC5714195 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsx095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2017] [Revised: 07/20/2017] [Accepted: 07/24/2017] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Developing a better understanding of how and under what circumstances alcohol affects the emotions, cognitions and neural functions that precede and contribute to dangerous behaviors during intoxication may help to reduce their occurrence. Alcohol intoxication has recently been shown to reduce defensive reactivity and anxiety more during uncertain vs certain threat. However, alcohol's effects on emotionally motivated attention to these threats are unknown. Alcohol may disrupt both affective response to and attentional processing of uncertain threats making intoxicated individuals less able to avoid dangerous and costly behaviors. To test this possibility, we examined the effects of a broad range of blood alcohol concentrations on 96 participants' sub-cortically mediated defensive reactivity (startle potentiation), retrospective subjective anxiety (self-report) and cortically assessed emotionally motivated attention (probe P3 event related potential) while they experienced visually cued uncertain and certain location electric shock threat. As predicted, alcohol decreased defensive reactivity and subjective anxiety more during uncertain vs certain threat. In a novel finding, alcohol dampened emotionally motivated attention during uncertain but not certain threat. This effect appeared independent of alcohol's effects on defensive reactivity and subjective anxiety. These results suggest that alcohol intoxication dampens processing of uncertain threats while leaving processing of certain threats intact.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel E Bradford
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Courtney A Motschman
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - Mark J Starr
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - John J Curtin
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
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Moberg CA, Bradford DE, Kaye JT, Curtin JJ. Increased startle potentiation to unpredictable stressors in alcohol dependence: Possible stress neuroadaptation in humans. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 2017; 126:441-453. [PMID: 28394145 DOI: 10.1037/abn0000265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Stress plays a key role in addiction etiology and relapse. Rodent models posit that following repeated periods of alcohol and other drug intoxication, compensatory allostatic changes occur in the central nervous system (CNS) circuits involved in behavioral and emotional response to stressors. We examine a predicted manifestation of this neuroadaptation in recently abstinent alcohol-dependent humans. Participants completed a translational laboratory task that uses startle potentiation to unpredictable (vs. predictable) stressors implicated in the putative CNS mechanisms that mediate this neuroadaptation. Alcohol-dependent participants displayed significantly greater startle potentiation to unpredictable than predictable stressors relative to nonalcoholic controls. The size of this effect covaried with alcohol-related problems and degree of withdrawal syndrome. This supports the rodent model thesis of a sensitized stress response in abstinent alcoholics. However, this effect could also represent premorbid risk or mark more severe and/or comorbid psychopathology. Regardless, pharmacotherapy and psychological interventions may target unpredictable stressor response to reduce stress-induced relapse. (PsycINFO Database Record
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