Irregular Autonomic Modulation Predicts Risky Drinking and Altered Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Response to Stress in Alcohol Use Disorder

Abstract Aims Autonomic dysfunction has been associated with risky drinking and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Although autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity has been attributed to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VmPFC)-limbic-striatal regions, the specific role of ANS disruption in AUD and its a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford) 2022-07, Vol.57 (4), p.437-444
Main Authors: Hwang, Seungju, Martins, Jorge S, Douglas, Ryan J, Choi, Justin J, Sinha, Rajita, Seo, Dongju
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcohol Drinking - psychology
Alcoholism
Amygdala - diagnostic imaging
Autonomic Nervous System
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Prefrontal Cortex - physiology
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Summary:Abstract Aims Autonomic dysfunction has been associated with risky drinking and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Although autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity has been attributed to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VmPFC)-limbic-striatal regions, the specific role of ANS disruption in AUD and its association with these regions remain unclear. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and concurrent electrocardiogram (ECG), the current study examined neural correlates of ANS activity in AUD and its role in AUD pathology. Methods Demographically matched 20 AUD patients and 20 social drinkers (SD) completed an fMRI task involving repeated exposure to stress, alcohol-cue and neutral-relaxing images in a block design. Based on the known VmPFC-limbic-striatal functions involved in emotions, reward and the ANS, we performed a regions of interest (ROI) analysis to examine the associations between ANS activity and neural responses in the VmPFC, amygdala, and ventral striatum. Results Across conditions, AUD patients showed significantly higher levels of overall heart rate (HR) and approximate entropy (ApEn) compared to SD (Ps 
ISSN:0735-0414
1464-3502
DOI:10.1093/alcalc/agab064