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Musial MPM, Beck A, Rosenthal A, Charlet K, Bach P, Kiefer F, Vollstädt-Klein S, Walter H, Heinz A, Rothkirch M. Reward Processing in Alcohol-Dependent Patients and First-Degree Relatives: Functional Brain Activity During Anticipation of Monetary Gains and Losses. Biol Psychiatry 2023; 93:546-557. [PMID: 35863919 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.05.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2021] [Revised: 05/17/2022] [Accepted: 05/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND According to the reward deficiency syndrome and allostatic hypotheses, hyposensitivity of mesocorticolimbic regions to non-alcohol-related stimuli predisposes to dependence or is long-lastingly enhanced by chronic substance use. To date, no study has directly compared mesocorticolimbic brain activity during non-drug reward anticipation between alcohol-dependent, at risk, and healthy subjects. METHODS Seventy-five abstinent alcohol-dependent human subjects (mean abstinence duration 957.66 days), 62 healthy first-degree relatives of alcohol-dependent individuals, and 76 healthy control subjects without family history of alcohol dependence performed a monetary incentive delay task. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data of the anticipation phase were analyzed, during which visual cues predicted that fast response to a target would result in monetary gain, avoidance of monetary loss, or a neutral outcome. RESULTS During gain anticipation, there were no significant group differences. During loss anticipation, abstinent alcohol-dependent subjects showed lower activity in the left anterior insula compared with healthy control subjects without family history of alcohol dependence only (Montreal Neurological Institute [MNI] -25 19 -5; t206 = 4.17, familywise error corrected p = .009). However, this effect was no longer significant when age was included as a covariate. There were no group differences between abstinent alcohol-dependent subjects and healthy first-degree relatives or between healthy first-degree relatives and healthy control subjects during loss anticipation, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Neither the neural reward deficiency syndrome nor the allostatic hypotheses are supported by the results. Future studies should investigate whether the incentive salience hypothesis allows for more accurate predictions regarding mesocorticolimbic brain activity of subjects with alcohol dependence and healthy individuals during reward and loss anticipation and further examine the neural substrates underlying a predisposition to dependence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Milena P M Musial
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences
- CCM, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Anne Beck
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences
- CCM, Berlin, Germany; Health and Medical University, Campus Potsdam, Faculty of Health, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Annika Rosenthal
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences
- CCM, Berlin, Germany
| | - Katrin Charlet
- Section on Clinical Genomics and Experimental Therapeutics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Patrick Bach
- Department of Addictive Behaviour and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty of Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Falk Kiefer
- Department of Addictive Behaviour and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty of Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany; Mannheim Center for Translational Neurosciences, Medical Faculty of Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Sabine Vollstädt-Klein
- Department of Addictive Behaviour and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty of Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany; Mannheim Center for Translational Neurosciences, Medical Faculty of Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Henrik Walter
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences
- CCM, Berlin, Germany
| | - Andreas Heinz
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences
- CCM, Berlin, Germany
| | - Marcus Rothkirch
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences
- CCM, Berlin, Germany
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