Huang Siyuan, MacLean R Ross, Beltz Adriene M, McClernon F Joseph, Kozink Rachel V, Wilson Stephen J
Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC), VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, USA; Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2025 Feb 1;267:112543. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.112543. Epub 2024 Dec 24.
Over the recent decades, smoking among women has become an increasingly pressing public health challenge. Mounting evidence suggests that, compared to men, women's smoking is more strongly influenced by habitual responses to sensorimotor cues. To understand the brain mechanisms underlying the cessation challenges commonly reported by women who smoke, the present study used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to investigate sex-related volumetric differences in the dorsal striatum, a region implicated in habitual substance use behavior, and their associations with self-reported quit interest among daily smoking adults.
Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were collected from 41 women and 52 men (30.1 ± 7.5 years) who reported smoking an average of 15-40 cigarettes per day for at least past 24 months. Multiple regression analyses were carried out with sex and average gray matter volumes (GMV) of predetermined brain regions of interest (ROIs; bilateral caudate, putamen) and control regions (bilateral nucleus accumbens, thalamus) as predictors of self-reported interest in quitting smoking.
Women displayed greater striatal GMV and lower current quit interest than men. ROI-based analyses revealed an interaction between sex and putamen GMV, wherein putamen GMV was more strongly and negatively linked to quit interest in women than men.
Greater GMV in the putamen could be linked to an attenuated desire to stop smoking among women. This may serve as a neuroanatomical mechanism underlying the higher prevalence of habit-driven smoking behavior observed in women as compared to men.
在最近几十年中，女性吸烟已成为一个日益紧迫的公共卫生挑战。越来越多的证据表明，与男性相比，女性吸烟受感觉运动线索习惯性反应的影响更大。为了了解吸烟女性普遍报告的戒烟挑战背后的脑机制，本研究采用基于体素的形态测量法（VBM）来研究背侧纹状体中与性别相关的体积差异，该区域与习惯性物质使用行为有关，以及它们与每日吸烟成年人自我报告的戒烟意愿之间的关联。
收集了41名女性和52名男性（30.1±7.5岁）的结构磁共振成像（MRI）数据，这些人报告在过去至少24个月中平均每天吸烟15 - 40支。以性别以及预定感兴趣脑区（ROI；双侧尾状核、壳核）和对照区域（双侧伏隔核、丘脑）的平均灰质体积（GMV）作为自我报告戒烟意愿的预测指标，进行了多元回归分析。
与男性相比，女性的纹状体GMV更大，当前戒烟意愿更低。基于ROI的分析揭示了性别与壳核GMV之间的相互作用，其中壳核GMV与女性戒烟意愿的负相关比男性更强。
壳核中更大的GMV可能与女性戒烟意愿减弱有关。这可能是女性中观察到的习惯驱动吸烟行为患病率高于男性的神经解剖学机制。
