Gray matter volumes of insular subregions are not correlated with smoking cessation outcomes but negatively correlated with nicotine dependence severity in chronic smokers

This study, therefore, aimed to (1) further explore the association between the cortical structural integrity of insular subregions prior to the target quit date and the treatment outcomes of smoking cessation therapy; and (2) further evaluate how the cortical structural integrity of insular subregions are related to smoking behaviors. In the present study, a total of 83 smokers and 41 nonsmokers were enrolled and high-resolution structural magnetic resonance images were acquired from all participants. After a 12-week smoking cessation treatment, 28 smokers succeeded in quitting smoking, 46 failed, and 9 were unable to be contacted. Our analysis showed that gray-matter volume of bilateral anterior insula were negatively correlated with nicotine dependence scores. However, the smoking cessation outcomes showed no correlations with the gray-matter volume and seed-based structural covariance network of insular subregions prior to smoking cessation. The present study further clarified the more precise roles of the insular cortex in smoking behaviors, which might improve the understanding of the mechanism in the nicotine dependence.

Source: Neuroscience Letters - December 11, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research