The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology
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Int. J. Neuropsychopharmacol. · Jun 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialA Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial of Targeted Prefrontal Cortex Modulation with Bilateral tDCS in Patients with Crack-Cocaine Dependence.
Transcranial direct current stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex has been shown to be clinically useful in the treatment of drug addiction. ⋯ Repetitive bilateral transcranial direct current stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex reduced craving for crack-cocaine use, decreased anxiety, and improved quality of life. We hypothesize that transcranial direct current stimulation effects may be associated with increased prefrontal processing and regulation of craving behavior.
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Int. J. Neuropsychopharmacol. · Apr 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialKetamine-Induced Modulation of the Thalamo-Cortical Network in Healthy Volunteers As a Model for Schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia has been associated with disturbances of thalamic functioning. In light of recent evidence suggesting a significant impact of the glutamatergic system on key symptoms of schizophrenia, we assessed whether modulation of the glutamatergic system via blockage of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-receptor might lead to changes of thalamic functional connectivity. ⋯ Our results indicate that changes of thalamic functioning as described for schizophrenia can be partly mimicked by NMDA-receptor blockage. This adds substantial knowledge about the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the profound changes of perception and behavior during the application of NMDA-receptor antagonists.
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Int. J. Neuropsychopharmacol. · Mar 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialSerotonergic psychedelics temporarily modify information transfer in humans.
Psychedelics induce intense modifications in the sensorium, the sense of "self," and the experience of reality. Despite advances in our understanding of the molecular and cellular level mechanisms of these drugs, knowledge of their actions on global brain dynamics is still incomplete. Recent imaging studies have found changes in functional coupling between frontal and parietal brain structures, suggesting a modification in information flow between brain regions during acute effects. ⋯ These results suggest that psychedelics induce a temporary disruption of neural hierarchies by reducing top-down control and increasing bottom-up information transfer in the human brain.
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Int. J. Neuropsychopharmacol. · Mar 2015
Pretreatment Differences in BOLD Response to Emotional Faces Correlate with Antidepressant Response to Scopolamine.
Faster acting antidepressants and biomarkers that predict treatment response are needed to facilitate the development of more effective treatments for patients with major depressive disorders. Here, we evaluate implicitly and explicitly processed emotional faces using neuroimaging to identify potential biomarkers of treatment response to the antimuscarinic, scopolamine. ⋯ The magnitude and direction of differential blood oxygen-level- dependent response to implicitly processed emotional faces prior to treatment reflect the potential to respond to scopolamine. These findings replicate earlier results, highlighting the potential for pretreatment neural activity in the middle occipital cortices and subgenual anterior cingulate to inform us about the potential to respond clinically to scopolamine.
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Int. J. Neuropsychopharmacol. · Mar 2015
Resting-state functional connectivity of antero-medial prefrontal cortex sub-regions in major depression and relationship to emotional intelligence.
Major depressive disorder has been associated with abnormal resting-state functional connectivity (FC), especially in cognitive processing and emotional regulation networks. Although studies have found abnormal FC in regions of the default mode network (DMN), no study has investigated the FC of specific regions within the anterior DMN based on cytoarchitectonic subdivisions of the antero-medial pre-frontal cortex (PFC). Studies from different areas in the field have shown regions within the anterior DMN to be involved in emotional intelligence. Although abnormalities in this region have been observed in depression, the relationship between the ventromedial PFC (vmPFC) function and emotional intelligence has yet to be investigated in depressed individuals. ⋯ These results suggest that individuals with depression have reduced FC between antero-medial PFC regions and regions involved in emotional regulation compared to control subjects. Moreover, vmPFC functional connectivity appears linked to emotional intelligence.