Harkki Juliana, Tuovinen Pauli, Jousmäki Veikko, Barreto Goncalo, Rapeli Pekka, Palomäki Jussi, Annevirta Jonne, Puisto Anna-Helena, McGlone Francis, Nieminen Heikki, Alho Hannu
Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, Finland.
Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, Finland; Clinicum, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Finland.
Alcohol. 2025 Mar;123:19-26. doi: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2024.11.004. Epub 2024 Nov 27.
Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is a chronic brain disorder associated with a high risk of relapse and a limited treatment efficacy. Relapses may occur even after long periods of abstinence and are often triggered by stress or cue induced alcohol craving. C-tactile afferents (CT) are cutaneous nerve fibers postulated to encode pleasant affective touch and known to modulate physiological stress responses. However, their translational potential has not yet been explored extensively in controlled clinical trials. This randomized controlled study aimed to investigate the potential of CT stimulation in modulating relapse predicting biomarkers, physiological cue-reactivity, and subjective alcohol craving in AUD patients in early abstinence. Twenty-one participants meeting DSM-5 criteria for mild to moderate AUD received CT-optimal touch or a non-CT-optimal control treatment while exposed to neutral, stress-inducing, and alcohol-related visual stimuli. The tactile treatment was provided with a robotic device, eliminating the social elements of touch. Heart rate variability (HRV), salivary cortisol, and subjective craving were assessed at the baseline, during and after the treatment and stimuli exposure. The results showed that CT-optimal touch significantly reduced alcohol-cue-elicited standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN) HRV compared to the control group, shifting the HRV reactivity to the direction known to indicate lower relapse susceptibility. Cortisol levels showed no significant differences between the groups, and subjective alcohol craving increased after alcohol cue exposure in both groups. This study found that CT-optimal touch modulates autonomic cue-reactivity in AUD patients, encouraging further research on the therapeutic potential of affective touch. Future research should explore the long-term effects and real-world clinical relevance of CT-optimal touch in alcohol relapse prevention.
酒精使用障碍（AUD）是一种慢性脑部疾病，与高复发风险和有限的治疗效果相关。即使经过长时间戒酒，仍可能复发，且往往由压力或提示诱发的酒精渴望引发。C类触觉传入神经（CT）是推测用于编码愉悦情感触觉的皮肤神经纤维，已知其可调节生理应激反应。然而，在对照临床试验中，其转化潜力尚未得到广泛探索。这项随机对照研究旨在调查CT刺激在调节戒酒早期AUD患者复发预测生物标志物、生理线索反应性和主观酒精渴望方面的潜力。21名符合DSM-5轻度至中度AUD标准的参与者在暴露于中性、应激诱导和与酒精相关的视觉刺激时，接受了CT最佳触觉或非CT最佳对照治疗。触觉治疗由机器人设备提供，消除了触觉的社交元素。在基线、治疗期间和治疗及刺激暴露后，评估心率变异性（HRV）、唾液皮质醇和主观渴望。结果表明，与对照组相比，CT最佳触觉显著降低了酒精线索诱发的正常到正常间隔标准差（SDNN）HRV，使HRV反应性向已知表明较低复发易感性的方向转变。两组之间皮质醇水平无显著差异，两组在酒精线索暴露后主观酒精渴望均增加。本研究发现，CT最佳触觉可调节AUD患者的自主线索反应性，鼓励进一步研究情感触觉的治疗潜力。未来的研究应探索CT最佳触觉在预防酒精复发方面的长期影响和实际临床相关性。
