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Low versus high level of response to alcohol affect amygdala functional connectivity during processing of emotional stimuli
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1 2022
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Source: Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 46(1):66-76
[PDF-830.27 KB]
Details:
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Alternative Title:Alcohol Clin Exp Res
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Personal Author:
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Description:Background:
Low levels of response (low LR) to alcohol predict heavy drinking and alcohol problems. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of emotion processing have demonstrated low LR individuals exhibit lower activation in task-related brain regions following both placebo and alcohol administration but the studies did not examine functional brain networks that might contribute to the phenomena. The current study expands upon those earlier results by evaluating if functional connectivity differences between the amygdala and other brain regions modulated by emotional face processing are likewise associated with LR. Based on the prior study, we hypothesized that low LR will be related to lower functional connectivity in fronto-amygdalar functional circuits underlying processing of emotional stimuli.
Methods:
Secondary analyses were conducted on data from a double-blind, placebo controlled, within-subjects, cross-over study in 108 18-to-25-year-old low and high LR sex matched pairs without an alcohol use disorder at baseline. Participants performed modified emotional faces processing tasks after placebo or approximately 0.7 mL/kg of ethanol. Psychophysiological interaction analyses examined functional connectivity between left and right amygdala and related brain circuits using LR-by-alcohol general linear models. The data included 54 sex-matched pairs with 216 fMRI scans comprising alcohol and placebo conditions.
Results:
Compared with individuals with high LR, low LR subjects demonstrated lower functional connectivity between the amygdala and the frontal lobes, insula, and parietal regions, respectively, while processing angry and happy faces. Interactions showed lower connectivity following alcohol in low LR and higher connectivity in high LR groups.
Conclusions:
Low LR individuals demonstrated lower functional connectivity both with placebo and in response to a modest ethanol dose. Attenuated connectivity among low LR individuals when processing emotional faces may contribute to an impaired ability to recognize alcohol intoxication in social situations and impaired ability to make appraisals of angry and happy emotions irrespective of consuming alcohol.
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Source:
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Pubmed ID:35064942
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Pubmed Central ID:PMC8820383
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