Associations between mesolimbic connectivity, and alcohol use from adolescence to adulthood

Angelica M Morales; Scott A Jones; Birgitta Carlson; Dakota Kliamovich; Joseph Dehoney; Brooke L Simpson; Kalene A Dominguez-Savage; Kristina O Hernandez; Daniel A Lopez; Fiona C Baker; Duncan B Clark; David B Goldston; Beatriz Luna; Kate B Nooner; Eva M Muller-Oehring; Susan F Tapert; Wesley K Thompson; Bonnie J Nagel

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101478

Associations between mesolimbic connectivity, and alcohol use from adolescence to adulthood

Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2024 Nov 16:70:101478. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101478. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Angelica M Morales¹, Scott A Jones², Birgitta Carlson², Dakota Kliamovich², Joseph Dehoney³, Brooke L Simpson², Kalene A Dominguez-Savage², Kristina O Hernandez², Daniel A Lopez², Fiona C Baker⁴, Duncan B Clark⁵, David B Goldston⁶, Beatriz Luna⁵, Kate B Nooner⁷, Eva M Muller-Oehring⁸, Susan F Tapert⁹, Wesley K Thompson¹⁰, Bonnie J Nagel¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, United States. Electronic address: moralean@ohsu.edu.
² Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, United States.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States.
⁴ Center for Health Sciences, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, United States.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, United States.
⁷ Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, United States.
⁸ Center for Health Sciences, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, United States; Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, United States.
¹⁰ Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, OK, United States.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, United States; Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, United States.

PMID: 39577156
DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101478

Abstract

Dopaminergic projections from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to limbic regions play a key role in the initiation and maintenance of substance use; however, the relationship between mesolimbic resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and alcohol use during development remains unclear. We examined the associations between alcohol use and VTA RSFC to subcortical structures in 796 participants (12-21 years old at baseline, 51 % female) across 9 waves of longitudinal data from the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence. Linear mixed effects models included interactions between age, sex, and alcohol use, and best fitting models were selected using log-likelihood ratio tests. Results demonstrated a positive association between alcohol use and VTA RSFC to the nucleus accumbens. Age was associated with VTA RSFC to the amygdala and hippocampus, and an age-by-alcohol use interaction on VTA-globus pallidus connectivity was driven by a positive association between alcohol and VTA-globus pallidus RSFC in adolescence, but not adulthood. On average, male participants exhibited greater VTA RSFC to the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, caudate, hippocampus, globus pallidus, and thalamus. Differences in VTA RSFC related to age, sex, and alcohol, may inform our understanding of neurobiological risk and resilience for alcohol use and other psychiatric disorders.

Keywords: Alcohol; Longitudinal; MRI; Mesolimbic; Sex differences; Ventral tegmental area.