Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Oct;36(7):2979-88.
doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2012.08211.x. Epub 2012 Jul 9.

Structural and behavioral correlates of abnormal encoding of money value in the sensorimotor striatum in cocaine addiction

Affiliations

Structural and behavioral correlates of abnormal encoding of money value in the sensorimotor striatum in cocaine addiction

Anna B Konova et al. Eur J Neurosci. 2012 Oct.

Abstract

Abnormalities in frontostriatal systems are thought to be central to the pathophysiology of addiction, and may underlie the maladaptive processing of the highly generalizable reinforcer, money. Although abnormal frontostriatal structure and function have been observed in individuals addicted to cocaine, it is less clear how individual variability in brain structure is associated with brain function to influence behavior. Our objective was to examine frontostriatal structure and neural processing of money value in chronic cocaine users and closely matched healthy controls. A reward task that manipulated different levels of money was used to isolate neural activity associated with money value. Gray matter volume measures were used to assess frontostriatal structure. Our results indicated that cocaine users had an abnormal money value signal in the sensorimotor striatum (right putamen/globus pallidus) that was negatively associated with accuracy adjustments to money and was more pronounced in individuals with more severe use. In parallel, group differences were also observed in both the function and gray matter volume of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex; in the cocaine users, the former was directly associated with response to money in the striatum. These results provide strong evidence for abnormalities in the neural mechanisms of valuation in addiction and link these functional abnormalities with deficits in brain structure. In addition, as value signals represent acquired associations, their abnormal processing in the sensorimotor striatum, a region centrally implicated in habit formation, could signal disadvantageous associative learning in cocaine addiction.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Task behavior
Mean task accuracy for the four monetary reward conditions (linear effect: 50¢>25¢>1¢>0¢, p=0.003). There were no significant group or money × group interaction effects on accuracy (F<2.43, p>0.069). Error bars represent standard error of the mean.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Money × group interaction on sensorimotor striatum response to money value
A money (linear contrast) × group interaction was observed in the right putamen, a region extending to the external segment of the globus pallidus, such that only individuals with cocaine use disorders (CUD) but not healthy comparison controls exhibited increased activation in this region to money. See Table 2. Statistical maps are thresholded at p<0.005 voxel-level uncorrected and 5 contiguous voxels for display. Error bars represent standard error of the mean. GPe: globus pallidus externus; R: right; L: left.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Group differences in activation and gray matter volume of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex
A, Individuals with cocaine use disorders (CUD) had greater deactivations and B, reduced gray matter volume of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) as compared with healthy controls. See Tables 2 & 4. Statistical maps are thresholded at p<0.005 voxel-level uncorrected and 5 contiguous voxels for display. Error bars represent standard error of the mean.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Correlation between sensorimotor striatum activations and ventromedial prefrontal cortex deactivations
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) deactivation was associated with increased activation in the sensorimotor striatum to money in individuals with cocaine use disorders (CUD). In controls this relationship was not significant (one outlier was removed, Cook’s d > 1). GPe: globus pallidus externus; R: right.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Correlations between sensorimotor striatum activation and behavior
A, Higher activations in the right putamen to money were associated with reduced behavioral adjustment to money (differential task-related accuracy, 50¢>0¢) and with B, more frequent cocaine use in the past 12 months in individuals with cocaine use disorders (CUD). One CUD and one control were removed from the analyses with accuracy and one CUD was removed from the analysis with cocaine use (for all excluded subjects, Cook’s d > 1).

References

    1. Alia-Klein N, Parvaz MA, Woicik PA, Konova AB, Maloney T, Shumay E, Wang R, Telang F, Biegon A, Wang GJ, Fowler JS, Tomasi D, Volkow ND, Goldstein RZ. Gene x disease interaction on orbitofrontal gray matter in cocaine addiction. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2011;68:283–294. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ashburner J, Friston KJ. Voxel-based morphometry--the methods. Neuroimage. 2000;11:805–821. - PubMed
    1. Ashburner J, Friston KJ. Unified segmentation. Neuroimage. 2005;26:839–851. - PubMed
    1. Baler RD, Volkow ND. Drug addiction: the neurobiology of disrupted self-control. Trends Mol Med. 2006;12:559–566. - PubMed
    1. Balleine BW, O’Doherty JP. Human and rodent homologies in action control: corticostriatal determinants of goal-directed and habitual action. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2010;35:48–69. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types