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Wade NE, Courtney KE, Wallace AL, Hatz L, Jacobus J. Investigating sex differences and age of onset in emotion regulation, executive functioning, and cannabis use in adolescents and young adults. J Cannabis Res 2024; 6:20. [PMID: 38671541 PMCID: PMC11046960 DOI: 10.1186/s42238-024-00225-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Young adults have historically high levels of cannabis use at a time which coincides with emotional and cognitive development. Age of regular onset of cannabis use and sex at birth are hypothesized to influence the relationship between cannabis use and cognition. Here we investigated past 6-month cannabis use in relation to emotional and executive functioning. We further considered age of onset and sex in subgroup analyses. METHOD Young adults (N = 225; ages 16-22) completed a substance use interview and cognitive battery, including the Emotional Word-Emotional Face Stroop and NIH toolbox executive functioning tasks. Linear regressions examined relationships between past 6-month cannabis use episodes and performance. Subgroup analyses investigated whether age of onset or sex impacted relationships. RESULTS After correcting for multiple comparisons, greater past 6-month cannabis use episodes were related to poorer Emotional Stroop Congruent Accuracy (p = .0004, FDR-p = .002) and List Sorting Working Memory (p = .02, FDR-p = .10) performance. Younger age of regular use onset marginally related to lower Emotional Stroop Congruent Accuracy performance (p = .03, FDR-p = .13). There were no cannabis use by sex interactions on cognition. CONCLUSIONS Consistent with prior findings, results suggest small reductions in cannabis-related performance in processing speed during emotional Stroop and working memory tasks. Age of onset was modestly related to Stroop performance, but not sex. Longitudinal studies which detail patterns of cannabis and other substance use are needed to better assess brain-behavior relationships and other factors (e.g., age of onset of regular use, sex) which could influence cannabis-related impairments in cognitive functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natasha E Wade
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0405, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Kelly E Courtney
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0405, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Alexander L Wallace
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0405, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Laura Hatz
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0405, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Joanna Jacobus
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0405, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
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Manza P, Tomasi D, Shokri-Kojori E, Zhang R, Kroll D, Feldman D, McPherson K, Biesecker C, Dennis E, Johnson A, Yuan K, Wang WT, Yonga MV, Wang GJ, Volkow ND. Neural circuit selective for fast but not slow dopamine increases in drug reward. Nat Commun 2023; 14:6408. [PMID: 37938560 PMCID: PMC10632365 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41972-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2023] [Accepted: 09/20/2023] [Indexed: 11/09/2023] Open
Abstract
The faster a drug enters the brain, the greater its addictive potential, yet the brain circuits underlying the rate dependency to drug reward remain unresolved. With simultaneous PET-fMRI we linked dynamics of dopamine signaling, brain activity/connectivity, and self-reported 'high' in 20 adults receiving methylphenidate orally (results in slow delivery) and intravenously (results in fast delivery) (trial NCT03326245). We estimated speed of striatal dopamine increases to oral and IV methylphenidate and then tested where brain activity was associated with slow and fast dopamine dynamics (primary endpoint). We then tested whether these brain circuits were temporally associated with individual 'high' ratings to methylphenidate (secondary endpoint). A corticostriatal circuit comprising the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and insula and their connections with dorsal caudate was activated by fast (but not slow) dopamine increases and paralleled 'high' ratings. These data provide evidence in humans for a link between dACC/insula activation and fast but not slow dopamine increases and document a critical role of the salience network in drug reward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Manza
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
| | - Dardo Tomasi
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Ehsan Shokri-Kojori
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Rui Zhang
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Danielle Kroll
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Dana Feldman
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Katherine McPherson
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Catherine Biesecker
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Evan Dennis
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Allison Johnson
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Kai Yuan
- School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710071, PR China
| | - Wen-Tung Wang
- Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Michele-Vera Yonga
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Gene-Jack Wang
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Nora D Volkow
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
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Beard SJ, Yoon L, Venticinque JS, Shepherd NE, Guyer AE. The brain in social context: A systematic review of substance use and social processing from adolescence to young adulthood. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2022; 57:101147. [PMID: 36030675 PMCID: PMC9434028 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Revised: 08/08/2022] [Accepted: 08/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Substance use escalates between adolescence and young adulthood, and most experimentation occurs among peers. To understand underlying mechanisms, research has focused on neural response during relevant psychological processes. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research provides a wealth of information about brain activity when processing monetary rewards; however, most studies have used tasks devoid of social stimuli. Given that adolescent neurodevelopment is sculpted by the push-and-pull of peers and emotions, identifying neural substrates is important for intervention. We systematically reviewed 28 fMRI studies examining substance use and neural responses to stimuli including social reward, emotional faces, social influence, and social stressors. We found substance use was positively associated with social-reward activity (e.g., in the ventral striatum), and negatively with social-stress activity (e.g., in the amygdala). For emotion, findings were mixed with more use linked to heightened response (e.g., in amygdala), but also with decreased response (e.g., in insula). For social influence, evidence supported both positive (e.g., cannabis and nucleus accumbens during conformity) and negative (e.g., polydrug and ventromedial PFC during peers' choices) relations between activity and use. Based on the literature, we offer recommendations for future research on the neural processing of social information to better identify risks for substance use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah J Beard
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, 267 Cousteau Pl, Davis, CA 95618, USA; Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, 301 Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
| | - Leehyun Yoon
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, 267 Cousteau Pl, Davis, CA 95618, USA.
| | - Joseph S Venticinque
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, 267 Cousteau Pl, Davis, CA 95618, USA; Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, 301 Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
| | - Nathan E Shepherd
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, 267 Cousteau Pl, Davis, CA 95618, USA.
| | - Amanda E Guyer
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, 267 Cousteau Pl, Davis, CA 95618, USA; Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, 301 Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
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