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Prospective changes in neural alcohol cue reactivity in at-risk adolescents

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Abstract

Adolescence represents an ideal time for elucidating the etiology of cue reactivity profiles. This study examined the influence of three risk factors consistently associated with heavy adolescent drinking on alcohol cue reactivity. Youth were first assessed while still naïve to alcohol (12–14 years old) and followed after transitioning into alcohol use (17–21 years old). The effects of family history of substance use disorder, sex, and history of early of dating (i.e., before 14 years of age) on BOLD response contrast to alcohol picture cues were examined in a linear mixed model, controlling for age and alcohol use patterns at follow-up. Activation to alcohol picture cues differed as a function of risk factor and time. At baseline, family history positive youth showed greater activation to alcohol cues than family history negative peers in the right middle occipital and anterior cingulate gyri. Youth with a history of early-dating showed greater activation to alcohol cues, compared to non-early daters, in the left anterior cingulate/white matter region. Girls showed greater activation to alcohol than boys at baseline in left middle frontal gyrus. At follow-up, after drinking started, patterns reversed for each risk factor. These results indicate that even prior to initiating alcohol use, adolescents showed differences in activation to alcohol cues based on their family history, dating history, and sex.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the participants, family and other informants, the San Diego Unified School District, and the outstanding research staff: Norma Castro, Claudia Cota, and Irene Lee.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Tam T. Nguyen-Louie, Kelly E. Courtney, Kara Bagot, Sonja Eberson, Alexis R. Alcaraz, Susan F. Tapert & Carmen Pulido

  2. Clinical Psychology, San Diego State University-University of California San Diego Joint Doctoral Program, 6363 Alvarado Ct, San Diego, CA, USA

    Tam T. Nguyen-Louie, Robyn Migliorini & Susan F. Tapert

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, 176 Ashley Ave, Charleston, SC, USA

    Lindsay M. Squeglia

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  1. Tam T. Nguyen-Louie
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  2. Kelly E. Courtney
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  3. Lindsay M. Squeglia
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  8. Susan F. Tapert
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  9. Carmen Pulido
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan F. Tapert.

Ethics declarations

This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health [R01 AA13419, U01 AA021692 (Tapert), F31 AA024389 (Nguyen-Louie), K12 DA031794 (Squeglia)].

Conflict of interest

All authors (TTN, KEC, LMS, KB, SE, RM, ARA, SFT, CP) of this study declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Nguyen-Louie, T.T., Courtney, K.E., Squeglia, L.M. et al. Prospective changes in neural alcohol cue reactivity in at-risk adolescents. Brain Imaging and Behavior 12, 931–941 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-017-9757-0

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