Ieong Hada Fong-Ha, Yuan Zhen
University of Macau, Bioimaging Core, Faculty of Health Sciences, Macau SAR, China.
Neurophotonics. 2018 Apr;5(2):025011. doi: 10.1117/1.NPh.5.2.025011. Epub 2018 Jun 9.
Many patients with substance use disorders (SUDs) live in a stressful environment, and comorbidity is not uncommon. Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying heroin and nicotine dependences and their relationships to social cognition could facilitate behavioral therapy efficacy. We aimed to provide a translational approach that leads to identifying potential biomarkers for opioid use disorder (OUD) susceptibility during recovery. We examined the clinical characters and the relationships between theory of mind (ToM) and executive functions in three groups: heroin plus nicotine-dependent (HND) patients who had remained heroin abstinent ( months), nicotine-dependent (ND) subjects, and healthy controls (C). The domains included emotion recognition, inhibition, shifting, updating, access, and processing speed. Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC), ToM task-induced functional connectivity, and brain networks were then explored among 21 matched subjects using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. HND enhanced the severities of anxiety, depression, and hyperactivity. Inhibition domain was impaired in both HND and ND. No impairment in domains of emotion recognition, access, and update was observed. HND demonstrated enhanced rsFC in the medial prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and decreased ToM-induced connectivity across the PFC. The right superior frontal gyrus in the OFC (oSFG; , , and ) was associated with working memory and emotion recognition in HND. Using a neuroimaging tool, these results supported the prominent reward-deficit-and-stress-surfeit hypothesis in SUDs, especially OUD, after protracted withdrawal. This may provide an insight in identifying potential biomarkers related to a dynamic environment.
许多患有物质使用障碍（SUDs）的患者生活在压力环境中，且共病情况并不少见。了解海洛因和尼古丁依赖的神经机制及其与社会认知的关系有助于提高行为治疗的效果。我们旨在提供一种转化方法，以确定在康复过程中阿片类物质使用障碍（OUD）易感性的潜在生物标志物。我们研究了三组人群的临床特征以及心理理论（ToM）与执行功能之间的关系：已戒除海洛因达（ 个月）的海洛因加尼古丁依赖（HND）患者、尼古丁依赖（ND）受试者和健康对照（C）。所涉及的领域包括情绪识别、抑制、转换、更新、获取和处理速度。然后，我们使用功能近红外光谱技术，在21名匹配的受试者中探索静息态功能连接（rsFC）、ToM任务诱发的功能连接和脑网络。HND患者的焦虑、抑郁和多动症状加重。HND组和ND组的抑制领域均受损。在情绪识别、获取和更新领域未观察到损伤。HND组在内侧前额叶皮质和眶额皮质（OFC）表现出增强的rsFC，且ToM诱发的跨前额叶皮质连接减少。OFC中的右侧额上回（oSFG； ， ，和 ）与HND患者的工作记忆和情绪识别相关。使用神经成像工具，这些结果支持了SUDs尤其是OUD在长期戒断后的显著奖励缺陷和压力过剩假说。这可能为识别与动态环境相关的潜在生物标志物提供见解。
