Nicotine withdrawal alters neural responses to psychosocial stress.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Psychosocial stress is considered to be an important mechanism underlying smoking behavior and relapse. Thus, understanding the effects of acute nicotine withdrawal on responses to stress is important to intervene to prevent stress-induced relapse. The current study investigated the neural correlates of psychosocial stress during acute nicotine withdrawal in chronic smokers.

Methods

Thirty-nine treatment-seeking smokers were randomized to one of two conditions (abstinent 24 h (n = 21) or smoking as usual (n = 18)). They were then exposed to the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST), a psychosocial stress task consisting of difficult mental arithmetic problems while receiving negative performance feedback while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI

SUBMITTER: Ashare RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4907902 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature