Schmidt, André and Walter, Marc and Gerber, Hana and Seifritz, Erich and Brenneisen, Rudolf and Wiesbeck, Gerhard A. and Riecher-Rössler, Anita and Lang, Undine E. and Borgwardt, Stefan. (2015) Normalizing effect of heroin maintenance treatment on stress-induced brain connectivity. Brain : a journal of neurology, 138 (1). pp. 217-228.
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Abstract
Recent evidence has shown that a single maintenance dose of heroin attenuates psychophysiological stress responses in heroin-dependent patients, probably reflecting the effectiveness of heroin-assisted therapies for the treatment of severe heroin addiction. However, the underlying neural circuitry of these effects has not yet been investigated. Using a cross-over, double-blind, vehicle-controlled design, 22 heroin-dependent and heroin-maintained outpatients from the Centre of Substance Use Disorders at the University Hospital of Psychiatry in Basel were studied after heroin and placebo administration, while 17 healthy controls from the general population were included for placebo administration only. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to detect brain responses to fearful faces and dynamic causal modelling was applied to compute fear-induced modulation of connectivity within the emotional face network. Stress responses were assessed by hormone releases and subjective ratings. Relative to placebo, heroin acutely reduced the fear-induced modulation of connectivity from the left fusiform gyrus to the left amygdala and from the right amygdala to the right orbitofrontal cortex in dependent patients. Both of these amygdala-related connectivity strengths were significantly increased in patients after placebo treatment (acute withdrawal) compared to healthy controls, whose connectivity estimates did not differ from those of patients after heroin injection. Moreover, we found positive correlations between the left fusiform gyrus to amygdala connectivity and different stress responses, as well as between the right amygdala to orbitofrontal cortex connectivity and levels of craving. Our findings indicate that the increased amygdala-related connectivity during fearful face processing after the placebo treatment in heroin-dependent patients transiently normalizes after acute heroin maintenance treatment. Furthermore, this study suggests that the assessment of amygdala-related connectivity during fear processing may provide a prognostic tool to assess stress levels in heroin-dependent patients and to quantify the efficacy of maintenance treatments in drug addiction.
Faculties and Departments: | 03 Faculty of Medicine > Bereich Psychiatrie (Klinik) > Erwachsenenpsychiatrie UPK 03 Faculty of Medicine > Departement Klinische Forschung > Bereich Psychiatrie (Klinik) > Erwachsenenpsychiatrie UPK 03 Faculty of Medicine > Bereich Psychiatrie (Klinik) > Erwachsenenpsychiatrie UPK > Erwachsenenpsychiatrie (Riecher-Rössler) 03 Faculty of Medicine > Departement Klinische Forschung > Bereich Psychiatrie (Klinik) > Erwachsenenpsychiatrie UPK > Erwachsenenpsychiatrie (Riecher-Rössler) |
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UniBasel Contributors: | Schmidt, André and Riecher-Rössler, Anita |
Item Type: | Article, refereed |
Article Subtype: | Research Article |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
ISSN: | 0006-8950 |
e-ISSN: | 1460-2156 |
Note: | Publication type according to Uni Basel Research Database: Journal article |
Language: | English |
Related URLs: | |
Identification Number: |
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edoc DOI: | |
Last Modified: | 05 Apr 2019 13:38 |
Deposited On: | 14 Aug 2018 09:14 |
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