Alcohol use disorders (AUD) cost billions of dollars in lost work time, crime, and medical complications, in addition to incalculable human misery. At the heart of all addiction disorders is a tendency to prefer the immediate reward of intoxication over all other future rewards, such as family, career development, and dignity. While research in this area has focused on impulsive choices for immediate smaller money rewards, versus larger delayed money rewards, the actual choice pattern that is made in AUD is immediate intoxication versus other larger delayed rewards. Understanding the cerebral vulnerabilities that may lead individuals to impulsive drinking instead requires assessing the brain mechanisms involved in the relative value of immediately present alcohol versus other rewards that are remote in time. By understanding the brain areas involved, their function in at-risk subjects, and how such brain activity can be manipulated using behavioral methods, we can better target addiction treatment.
Aim 1 will demonstrate that measuring alcohol versus money choice is a better predictor of alcohol problems than the more standard money versus money choice.
Aim 2 will utilize functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine how risk factors alter brain activity related to immediate alcohol choice.
Aim 3 will determine how regional brain activity is biased by external stimuli (relapse triggers) during alcohol-related decision making.
Aim 4 will determine how regional brain activity is biased by non-drug events that have the potential to bias choice away from intoxication.
Aim 4, in particular, will inform clinical treatment of addictions by showing the mechanisms by which future orientation can alter addictive behavior. By utilizing a more precise model of AUD choice, the findings will bring the field of alcohol research closer to uncovering the brain mechanisms of this devastating disorder. In the course of performing these studies, the Primary Investigator, Dr. Brandon Oberlin, will receive extensive training and guidance from his mentor, Dr. David Kareken, and his advisory committee. Augmented by advanced coursework and supplemental education at the Indiana University School of Medicine, this grant mechanism will support and prepare him for his career as an independent scientist in the field of addiction research.
Understanding decision-making in alcoholism requires more precise behavioral measurement than is currently employed. The goal of this application is to expand knowledge of how the alcoholic brain differs from non- alcoholics, and how these brain areas respond to good or bad choices about drinking. A major goal is to clarify the role of specific brain regions corresponding to delay-of-gratification in high-risk subjects with the aim o bettering addiction treatments.
| Oberlin, Brandon G; Dzemidzic, Mario; Harezlak, Jaroslaw et al. (2016) Corticostriatal and Dopaminergic Response to Beer Flavor with Both fMRI and [(11) C]raclopride Positron Emission Tomography. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 40:1865-73 |
| Charpentier, Judith; Dzemidzic, Mario; West, John et al. (2016) Externalizing personality traits, empathy, and gray matter volume in healthy young drinkers. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 248:64-72 |
| Weafer, Jessica; Dzemidzic, Mario; Eiler 2nd, William et al. (2015) Associations between regional brain physiology and trait impulsivity, motor inhibition, and impaired control over drinking. Psychiatry Res 233:81-7 |
| Oberlin, Brandon G; Albrecht, Daniel S; Herring, Christine M et al. (2015) Monetary discounting and ventral striatal dopamine receptor availability in nontreatment-seeking alcoholics and social drinkers. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 232:2207-16 |
