IMR Press / JIN / Volume 22 / Issue 3 / DOI: 10.31083/j.jin2203066
Open Access Original Research
Overnight Abstinence, Ventrostriatal-Insular Connectivity, and Tridimensional Personality Traits in Cigarette Smokers
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1 Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
2 Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
3 Inter-Department Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
4 Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
*Correspondence: yu.chen.yc838@yale.edu (Yu Chen); chiang-shan.li@yale.edu (Chiang-shan R. Li)
J. Integr. Neurosci. 2023, 22(3), 66; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.jin2203066
Submitted: 26 November 2022 | Revised: 8 February 2023 | Accepted: 15 February 2023 | Published: 9 May 2023
Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Personality traits contribute to the risks of smoking. The striatum has been implicated in nicotine addiction and nicotine deprivation is associated with alterations in resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the ventral (VS) and dorsal (DS) striatum. However, it remains unclear how striatal rsFC may change following overnight abstinence or how these shorter-term changes in inter-regional connectivity relate to personality traits. Methods: In the current study, 28 smokers completed assessments with Fagerström Test of Nicotine Dependence, Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ), as well as resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans during satiety and after overnight abstinence. We processed imaging data with published routines and evaluated the results with a corrected threshold. Results: Smokers showed increases in the VS-insula rsFC but no significant changes in the DS rsFC after overnight abstinence as compared to satiety. The difference in the VS-insula rsFC (abstinence minus satiety) was negatively correlated with harm avoidance. Conclusions: These findings highlighted striatal connectivity correlates of very short-term abstinence from smoking and how the VS-insula rsFC may vary with individual personality traits, interlinking neural markers and personality risk factors of cigarette smoking at the earliest stage of abstinence.

Keywords
nicotine abstinence
ventral striatum
resting state fMRI
functional connectivity
TPQ
Funding
DA051922/NIH
Figures
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