Thalamo-cortical dysfunction in cocaine abusers: Implications in attention and perception

Tomasi, Dardo; Goldstein, Rita Z.; Telang, Frank; Maloney, Thomas; Alia-Klein, Nelly; Caparelli, Elisabeth C.; Volkow, Nora D.

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2007.03.002

« Previous Next »Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 155, Issue 3 , Pages 189-201, 15 August 2007

Thalamo-cortical dysfunction in cocaine abusers: Implications in attention and perception

Dardo Tomasi
- Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA
- Corresponding author. Medical Department, Bldg 490, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 30 Bell Ave., Upton, NY, 11973, USA. Tel.: +1 631 344 3640; fax: +1 631 344 7671.
Rita Z. Goldstein
- Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA
Frank Telang
- Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA
Thomas Maloney
- Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA
Nelly Alia-Klein
- Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA
Elisabeth C. Caparelli
- Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA
Nora D. Volkow
- National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, MD, USA

Received 14 September 2006; received in revised form 8 January 2007; accepted 4 March 2007.

Abstract

Cocaine affects sensory perception and attention, but little is known about the neural substrates underlying these effects in the human brain. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a sustained visuospatial attention task to assess if the visual attention network is dysfunctional in cocaine abusers (n=14) compared to age-, gender-, and education-matched controls (n=14). Compared with controls, cocaine abusers showed (1) hypo-activation of the thalamus, which may reflect noradrenergic and/or dopaminergic deficits; (2) hyper-activation in occipital and prefrontal cortices, which may reflect increased visual cortical processing to compensate for inefficient visual thalamic processing; and (3) larger deactivation of parietal and frontal regions possibly to support the larger hemodynamic supply to the hyper-activated brain regions. These findings provide evidence of abnormalities in thalamo-cortical responses in cocaine abusers that are likely to contribute to the impairments in sensory processing and in attention. The development of therapies that diminish these thalamo-cortical deficits could improve the treatment of cocaine addiction.