Shifts in the functional topography of frontal cortex ‐striatum connectivity in alcohol use disorder

We developed a novel fMRI analysis approach for assessing peak connectivity shifts along frontostriatal connectivity gradients. In patients with alcohol ‐use disorder, the right orbitofrontal cortex (rOFC) showed a connectivity shift towards ventral striatal regions and reduced variability, suggesting a “clamping” of the rOFC to the ventral striatum. Striatal peak connectivity in the superior frontal gyrus, the medial frontal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and the right inferior frontal gyrus was found to be associated with clinical self‐report questionnaires. AbstractFrontostriatal circuits are centrally involved in the selection of behavioral programs and play a prominent role in alcohol use disorder (AUD) as well as other mental disorders. However, how frontal regions change their striatal connectivity to implement adaptive cognitive control is still not fully understood. Here, we developed an approach for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) connectivity analysis in which we change the focus from connectivity to individual voxels towards spatial information about the location of strongest functional connectivity. In resting state data ofn = 66 participants with AUD andn = 40 healthy controls (HC) we used the approach to estimate frontostriatal connectivity gradients consistent with nonhuman primate tract‐tracing studies, characterized for each frontal voxel the striatal peak connectivity location on this gradient (PeaCoG), and tested for group d...
Source: Addiction Biology - Category: Addiction Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research