Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Department of Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2018 Apr;235(4):1257-1271. doi: 10.1007/s00213-018-4841-8. Epub 2018 Feb 13.
The World Health Organization regards betel quid (BQ) as a human carcinogen, and DSM-IV and ICD-10 dependence symptoms may develop with its heavy use. BQ's possible effects of an enhanced reward system and disrupted inhibitory control may increase the likelihood of habitual substance use.
The current study aimed to employ resting-state fMRI to examine the hypothesized enhanced reward system (e.g., the basal forebrain system) and disrupted inhibitory control (e.g., the prefrontal system) in BQ chewers.
The current study recruited three groups of 48 male participants: 16 BQ chewers, 15 tobacco- and alcohol-user controls, and 17 healthy controls. We used functional connectivity (FC), mean fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (mfALFF), and mean regional homogeneity (mReHo) to evaluate functional alternations in BQ chewers. Graph theoretical analysis (GTA) and network-based statistical (NBS) analysis were also performed to identify the functional network differences among the three groups.
Our hypothesis was partially supported: the enhanced reward system for the BQ chewers (e.g., habitual drug-seeking behavior) was supported; however, their inhibitory control was relatively preserved. In addition, we reported that the BQ chewers may have enhanced visuospatial processing and decreased local segregation.
The current results (showing an enhanced reward system in the chewers) provided the clinicians with important insight for the future development of an effective abstinence treatment.
世界卫生组织将槟榔果（BQ）视为人类致癌物，并且大量使用可能会导致 DSM-IV 和 ICD-10 依赖症状。BQ 对奖励系统的增强作用和对抑制控制的破坏作用可能会增加习惯性物质使用的可能性。
本研究旨在利用静息态 fMRI 检查 BQ 咀嚼者中假设的增强奖励系统（例如基底前脑系统）和破坏抑制控制（例如前额叶系统）。
本研究招募了三组 48 名男性参与者：16 名 BQ 咀嚼者、15 名烟酒使用者对照者和 17 名健康对照者。我们使用功能连接（FC）、低频波动幅度的平均分数（mfALFF）和平均区域同质性（mReHo）来评估 BQ 咀嚼者的功能变化。还进行了图论分析（GTA）和基于网络的统计（NBS）分析，以识别三组之间的功能网络差异。
我们的假设得到了部分支持：BQ 咀嚼者的奖励系统增强（例如习惯性觅药行为）得到了支持；然而，他们的抑制控制相对保留。此外，我们报告说，BQ 咀嚼者可能增强了视觉空间处理能力，降低了局部隔离。
目前的结果（显示咀嚼者的奖励系统增强）为临床医生提供了未来开发有效戒除治疗的重要见解。
