Using task-based functional MRI, we examined inpatients with heroin use disorder. We found that 15 weeks of medication-assisted treatment (including supplemental group therapy) improved impaired anterior and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex function during an inhibitory control task. Inhibitory control, a core deficit in drug addiction, may be amenable to targeted prefrontal cortex interventions.
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References
Center for Disease Control. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. top 100,000 annually https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm (2021). A press release that summarizes substance-use-related overdose death statistics.
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Ceceli, A. O., King, S., McClain, N., Alia-Klein, N. & Goldstein, R. Z. The neural signature of impaired inhibitory control in individuals with heroin use disorder. J. Neurosci. 43, 173–182 (2022). An empirical report in which we found worse behavioral performance and PFC hypoactivation during inhibitory control in inpatients with heroin use disorder.
Garland, E. L., Atchley, R. M., Hanley, A. W., Zubieta, J.-K. & Froeliger, B. Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement remediates hedonic dysregulation in opioid users: neural and affective evidence of target engagement. Sci. Adv. 5, eaax1569 (2019). A study that provides neurophysiological evidence for the efficacy of Mindfulness Oriented Recovery Enhancement — one of the therapy groups that supplemented inpatient treatment in our study, with results pending trial completion — in restructuring impaired incentive salience in patients with chronic pain who misuse opiates.
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This is a summary of: Ceceli, A. O. et al. Recovery of anterior prefrontal cortex inhibitory control after 15 weeks of inpatient treatment in heroin use disorder. Nat. Ment. Health https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-024-00230-4 (2024).
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Prefrontal cortex activity increases after inpatient treatment for heroin addiction. Nat. Mental Health (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-024-00239-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-024-00239-9
