Ghobadi-Azbari Peyman, Moslemi Hossein, Yousefpour Mitra, Hosseini Yasaman
Department of Science and Technology Studies, Faculty of Faculty of Neuroscience, AJA University of Command and Staff, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Basic Clin Neurosci. 2025;16(Spec Issue):283-298. doi: 10.32598/bcn.2023.5833.1. Epub 2025 Mar 18.
Methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) has substantial societal and individual implications, necessitating a comprehensive understanding of its neural underpinnings for effective intervention. Key to addiction is the amygdala, implicated in emotion processing and reward systems, which interacts with the prefrontal cortex in addictive behaviors.
We conducted a study involving 54 male individuals with MUD (age range: 22-44 years) to examine amygdala-cortical connectivity during methamphetamine cue reactivity, aiming to uncover effective neural pathways. We combined generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analysis and dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to elucidate connectivity dynamics and effective neural pathways. We delved deeper into neuro-behavioral connections using the Pearson correlation and group factor analysis (GFA).
Our findings revealed increased functional connectivity within the amygdala-posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and amygdala-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) networks during methamphetamine cue reactivity. DCM revealed a neural network characterized by positive bidirectional connections among the amygdala, dlPFC, and PCC, along with negative intrinsic connections. Interestingly, we observed that the intrinsic self-inhibition of the dlPFC was negatively correlated with post-task positive affect, suggesting its role in emotional regulation. Nonetheless, utilizing GFA, we did not discover any noteworthy cross-unit latent factors between the neural group and variables related to behavior, psychology, or demographics.
These discoveries enrich our comprehension of the neural mechanisms at play in methamphetamine cue reactivity and addiction-related processes. The increased amygdala-cortical connectivity underscores the role of these networks in drug cue processing, potentially contributing to craving and relapse. Effective connectivity analysis highlights the interconnectedness of the amygdala, dlPFC, and PCC, revealing potential pathways for neural signaling during cue reactivity. Our results contribute to the growing body of knowledge about addiction's neurobiological basis, offering insights that may inform targeted interventions to mitigate the impact of methamphetamine cue reactivity on addiction progression.
甲基苯丙胺使用障碍（MUD）对社会和个人都有重大影响，因此有必要全面了解其神经基础以进行有效干预。成瘾的关键在于杏仁核，它参与情绪处理和奖励系统，在成瘾行为中与前额叶皮层相互作用。
我们对54名患有MUD的男性个体（年龄范围：22 - 44岁）进行了一项研究，以检查甲基苯丙胺线索反应期间杏仁核 - 皮层的连接性，旨在揭示有效的神经通路。我们结合了广义心理生理交互作用（gPPI）分析和动态因果模型（DCM）来阐明连接动态和有效的神经通路。我们使用皮尔逊相关性和组因子分析（GFA）更深入地研究神经行为联系。
我们的研究结果显示，在甲基苯丙胺线索反应期间，杏仁核 - 后扣带回皮层（PCC）和杏仁核 - 背外侧前额叶皮层（dlPFC）网络内的功能连接增加。DCM显示出一个神经网络，其特征是杏仁核、dlPFC和PCC之间存在正向双向连接，以及负向内在连接。有趣的是，我们观察到dlPFC的内在自我抑制与任务后积极情绪呈负相关，表明其在情绪调节中的作用。然而，利用GFA，我们没有发现神经组与行为、心理或人口统计学相关变量之间有任何值得注意的跨单元潜在因素。
这些发现丰富了我们对甲基苯丙胺线索反应和成瘾相关过程中神经机制的理解。杏仁核 - 皮层连接性的增加强调了这些网络在药物线索处理中的作用，可能导致渴望和复发。有效连接性分析突出了杏仁核、dlPFC和PCC的相互连接性，揭示了线索反应期间神经信号传导的潜在途径。我们的结果有助于增加关于成瘾神经生物学基础的知识体系，提供的见解可能为有针对性的干预措施提供信息，以减轻甲基苯丙胺线索反应对成瘾进展的影响。
