Preliminary Evidence for Disrupted Nucleus Accumbens Reactivity and Connectivity to Reward in Binge Drinkers.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Dysfunctional brain reward circuitry, particularly in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), has been proposed as a risk factor for alcohol use disorder (AUD). This risk factor may be evident in binge drinkers (BD), who are at high risk for developing AUD. We examined whole-brain and NAcc reactivity to reward in BD compared to non-binge drinkers (NBD), hypothesizing that groups would differ in their neural reactivity and connectivity.

Methods

Healthy BD (N = 27) and NBD (N = 23)-none meeting AUD criteria-completed a reward-guessing game, the 'Doors' task, during functional magnetic resonance imaging. We conducted an exploratory whole-brain search for group differences, but given our a priori hypotheses, we also extracted activation from the NAcc to examine reactivity during rewa

SUBMITTER: Crane NA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5860287 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature