Habenular and striatal activity during performance feedback are differentially linked with state-like and trait-like aspects of tobacco use disorder

Abstract

Although tobacco use disorder is linked with functional alterations in the striatum, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and insula, preclinical evidence also implicates the habenula as a contributor to negative reinforcement mechanisms maintaining nicotine use. The habenula is a small and understudied epithalamic nucleus involved in reward and aversive processing that is hypothesized to be hyperactive during nicotine withdrawal thereby contributing to anhedonia. In a pharmacologic fMRI study involving administration of nicotine and varenicline, two relatively efficacious cessation aids, we utilized a positive and negative performance feedback task previously shown to differentially activate the striatum and habenula. By administering these nicotinic drugs (vs. placebos) to both overnight abstinent smokers (n=24) and nonsmokers (n=20), we delineated feedback-related functional alterations both as a function of a chronic smoking history (trait: smokers vs. nonsmokers) and as a function of drug administration (state: nicotine, varenicline). We observed that smokers showed less ventral striatal responsivity to positive feedback, an alteration not mitigated by drug administration, but rather correlated with higher trait-level addiction severity among smokers and elevated self-reported negative affect across all participants. Conversely, nicotine administration reduced habenula activity following both positive and negative feedback among abstinent smokers, but not nonsmokers; greater habenula activity correlated with elevated abstinence-induced, state-level tobacco craving among smokers and elevated social anhedonia across all participants. These outcomes highlight a dissociation between neurobiological processes linked with the trait of dependence severity and with the state of acute nicotine withdrawal. Interventions simultaneously targeting both aspects may improve currently poor cessation outcomes.\n\nOne-sentence teaserIn a pharmacological fMRI study, e dissociate brain alterations in the habenula linked with nicotine withdrawal and striatal alterations linked with addiction.