The impact of sex on brain responses to smoking cues: a perfusion fMRI study

BACKGROUND: Anecdotal and clinical theories purport that females are more responsive to smoking cues, yet few objective, neurophysiological examinations of these theories have been conducted. The current study examines the impact of sex on brain responses to smoking cues. METHODS: Fifty-one (31 males) cigarette-dependent sated smokers underwent pseudo-continuous arterial spin-labeled perfusion functional magnetic resonance imaging during exposure to visual smoking cues and non-smoking cues. Brain responses to smoking cues relative to non-smoking cues were examined within males and females separately and then compared between males and females. Cigarettes smoked per day was included in analyses as a covariate. RESULTS: Both males and females showed increased responses to smoking cues compared to non-smoking cues with males exhibiting increased medial orbitofrontal cortex and ventral striatum/ventral pallidum responses, and females showing increased medial orbitofrontal cortex responses. Direct comparisons between male and female brain responses revealed that males showed greater bilateral hippocampal/amygdala activation to smoking cues relative to non-smoking cues. CONCLUSIONS: Males and females exhibit similar responses to smoking cues relative to non-smoking cues in a priori reward-related regions; however, direct comparisons between sexes indicate that smoking cues evoke greater bilateral hippocampal/amygdalar activation among males. Given the current literature on sex differences in smoking cue neural activity is sparse and incomplete, these results contribute to our knowledge of the neurobiological underpinnings of drug cue reactivity

The Neural Circuitry and Neurocognitive Development

This chapter focuses on adolescent brain development and associated functional implications. We focus on changes in brain tissue composition, fiber architecture and circuitry, and neurochemistry and discuss how these maturational processes affect adolescent brain functioning, sleep, cognition, and behaviors. Given the substantial developments that occur during adolescence, the effects of puberty and sex hormones on brain structure and function are reviewed, and literature on the effects of substance use on the adolescent brain are covered. The chapter reports on recent neuroimaging studies suggesting that atypical and/or asynchronous maturation patterns may contribute to adolescents’ proclivity for risk taking, heightened emotionality, and the emergence of psychopathology. Finally, future research opportunities are discussed.</p