Brain Responses to Cigarette-Related and Emotional Images in Smokers During Smoking Cessation: No Ef
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Posted by: Natalia Gromov
Francesco Versace, Elise M Stevens, Jason D Robinson, Yong Cui, Menton M Deweese, Jeffrey M Engelmann, Charles E Green, Maher Karam-Hage, Cho Y Lam, Jennifer A Minnix, David W Wetter, Paul M Cinciripini.
Brain Responses to Cigarette-Related and Emotional Images in Smokers During Smoking Cessation: No Effect of Varenicline or Bupropion on the Late Positive Potential.
Nicotine & Tobacco Research, , ntx264, https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntx264
Varenicline and bupropion are two effective smoking cessation pharmacotherapies. Researchers have hypothesized that they might be effective, in part, because they reduce cue reactivity and cue-induced cravings. Here, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to directly measure brain responses to cigarette-related and other motivationally relevant images during a pharmacologically aided quit attempt. Smokers involved in a 12-week placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial of smoking cessation medications (varenicline, bupropion, placebo) took part in the study. We assessed participants at two time points: 24 hours (n = 140) and four weeks (n = 176) after the quit date. At both sessions, we measured the amplitude of the Late Positive Potential (LPP), an ERP component reliably associated with motivational relevance, and self-reported tonic craving using the brief version of the Questionnaire of Smoking Urges (QSU-Brief). At both sessions, emotional and cigarette-related images evoked significantly larger LPPs than neutral images. Neither drug type nor smoking abstinence altered this effect at either session. At both sessions, varenicline and bupropion significantly reduced self-reported tonic craving relative to the placebo condition. While both varenicline and bupropion reduced self-reported tonic craving, neither medication altered the amplitude of the LPP to cigarette-related or emotional pictures in smokers attempting to quit. These medications may influence abstinence by means other than by reducing neuroaffective responses to cigarette-related cues. Smokers should be prepared for the likelihood that even after several weeks of successful abstinence, once treatment ends, cigarette-related cues may remain motivationally relevant and trigger cravings that might lead to relapse. Bupropion and varenicline do not alter electrophysiological responses, as measured by the LPP, to cigarette-related and emotional images. These findings help explain why cigarette-related cues can trigger relapse when smoking cessation medication treatments end.
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