Control Systems Approach to Predicting Individualized Dynamics of Nicotine Cravings

• Status: Unknown status
• Trial end date: 2017-12-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

Nicotine is the most common drug of abuse in the United States, and has addiction strength comparable to cocaine, heroin, and alcohol. It is the primary addictive component of tobacco, and its use markedly increases risk for cancer, heart disease, asthma, miscarriage, and infant mortality. Addiction is thought to be caused primarily by the intersection of two components: 1) the impact of drug pharmacokinetics on the dynamics of dopamine response, and 2) dysregulation of the brain's reward circuit. While the term 'dysregulated' tends to be used qualitatively within the neuroscience literature, regulation has a precise and testable meaning in control systems engineering, which has yet to be addressed in a quantitative manner by current neuroimaging methods or models of addiction. Current approaches to neuroimaging have primarily focused on identifying nodes and causal connections within the meso-circuit of interest, but have yet to take the next step in treating these nodes and connection as a self-interacting dynamical system evolving over time. Such an approach is critical for improving our understanding, and therefore prediction, of trajectories for addiction as well as recovery.

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Stony Brook University
• Treatments: Nicotine

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

21-65years of age

Moderate to severe addiction to smoking/nicotine

Willingness to withdraw from nicotine for 12 hours prior to testing

Eyesight correctable to 20/20 with contact lenses.

Exclusion Criteria:

Electrical implants such as cardiac pacemakers or perfusion pumps

Ferromagnetic implants such as aneurysm clips, surgical clips, prostheses, artificial hearts, valves with steel parts, metal fragments, shrapnel, facial tattoos, or steel implants

Claustrophobia

Pregnancy or breastfeeding (for females, pregnancy status will be confirmed with urine test)

Chronic nasal congestion, sinusitis, or common cold Use of nicotine cessation therapy (patch, gum, inhaler, nasal spray)

History of asthma, cardiovascular or peripheral vascular disease (anginas, arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, Raynaud's disease, insulin dependent diabetes)

History of neurological disease (brain tumor, stroke, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy)

Current use of psychotropic medication