The principal investigator's long term goal is to use functional imaging to study limbic system vulnerabilities that lead to alcoholism and treatment relapse. This knowledge is essential for understanding disease mechanisms and developing drug treatments. The objective of this application is to use fMRI and alcohol-related olfactory cues to study the ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens, limbic gustatory and orbitofrontal cortex in individuals at differential risk for alcoholism.
Aim 1 : Determine the effects of family history and recent drinking on olfactory cue-induced responses in mesolimbic dopamine and gustatory areas. We will use fMRI to study gustatory and mesolimbic dopamine area responses to alcoholic odor cues in non-dependent, healthy, social drinkers who vary by family history of alcoholism and recent drinking.
Aim 2 : Study the effects of low-dose alcohol on cue-induced responses in mesolimbic dopamine, gustatory, and orbital areas. We will study group differences in olfactory cue-elicited signals in these limbic brain areas during steady-state, intravenous alcohol infusion.
Aim 3 : Examine cue-induced signals in mesolimbic dopamine and gustatory areas as a function of cue-induced craving. We will study changes in desire to drink and salivation following exposure to alcohol cues, and relate those changes to observed signal changes in fMRI. The significance of this research is that it directly extends findings from experimental animal research to the key population of interest- human subjects at risk for developing alcoholism. The work will advance our understanding of how brain function in key regions is associated with one or both of two main risk factors for alcoholism.
| 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 |
| Oberlin, Brandon G; Dzemidzic, Mario; Bragulat, Veronique et al. (2012) Limbic responses to reward cues correlate with antisocial trait density in heavy drinkers. Neuroimage 60:644-52 |
| Bragulat, Veronique; Dzemidzic, Mario; Bruno, Carolina et al. (2010) Food-related odor probes of brain reward circuits during hunger: a pilot FMRI study. Obesity (Silver Spring) 18:1566-71 |
| Kareken, David A; Bragulat, Veronique; Dzemidzic, Mario et al. (2010) Family history of alcoholism mediates the frontal response to alcoholic drink odors and alcohol in at-risk drinkers. Neuroimage 50:267-76 |
| Kareken, David A; Liang, Tiebing; Wetherill, Leah et al. (2010) A polymorphism in GABRA2 is associated with the medial frontal response to alcohol cues in an fMRI study. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 34:2169-78 |
| Yoder, Karmen K; Morris, Evan D; Constantinescu, Cristian C et al. (2009) When what you see isn't what you get: alcohol cues, alcohol administration, prediction error, and human striatal dopamine. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 33:139-49 |
| Bragulat, Veronique; Dzemidzic, Mario; Talavage, Thomas et al. (2008) Alcohol sensitizes cerebral responses to the odors of alcoholic drinks: an fMRI study. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 32:1124-34 |
