Abstract
Marijuana (MJ) acutely acts on cannabinoid receptors that are found in numerous brain regions, including those involved in reward processing and decision-making. However, it remains unclear how long-term, chronic MJ use alters reward-based decision-making. In the present study, using [15O]water PET imaging, we measured brain activity in chronic MJ users, who underwent monitored abstinence from MJ for approximately 24 h before imaging, and control participants, while they took part in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a monetary decision making task that strongly relies on the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). During PET imaging, participants took part in the standard and a variant version of the IGT as well as a control task. Chronic MJ users performed equally well on the standard IGT, but significantly worse than controls on the variant IGT. Chronic MJ users and control subjects showed increased regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the vmPFC on both versions of the IGT compared to the control task. In the two-group comparison, chronic MJ users showed significantly greater rCBF than controls in the vmPFC on the standard IGT and greater activity in the cerebellum on both versions of the IGT. Furthermore, duration of use, but not age of first use, was associated with greater activity in the vmPFC. Thus, chronic MJ users tend to strongly recruit neural circuitry involved in decision-making and reward processing (vmPFC), and probabilistic learning (cerebellum) when performing the IGT.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Eugene Zeien for assistance with image processing, Levent Bayman for statistical assistance, and Jordan Zuccarelli, Megan Lombardi, and Catherine. Fruehling-Wall for help with data collection. This study was funded by NIH grant 5R01DA019338 to R.I.B.
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The authors declare that, except for income received from primary employers, no financial support or compensation has been received from any individual or corporate entity over the past three years for research or professional service and there are no personal financial holdings that could be perceived as constituting a potential conflict of interest.
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Vaidya, J., Block, R., O'Leary, D. et al. Effects of Chronic Marijuana Use on Brain Activity During Monetary Decision-Making. Neuropsychopharmacol 37, 618–629 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2011.227
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2011.227
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