Reward anticipation predicts psychotic-like experiences in youth exposed to cannabis prenatally
Poster No:
443
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Carolyn Amir1,2, Dara Ghahremani3,4, Sarah Chang3,2, Hoki Fung3,2, Ziva Cooper5,6, Carrie Bearden3,7
Institutions:
1Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Beha, Los Angeles, CA, 2Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles , CA, 3Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CA, 4Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 5Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles , CA, 6Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles , CA, 7Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles,, Los Angeles, CA
First Author:
Carolyn Amir, BA
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Beha|Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA|Los Angeles , CA
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Beha|Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA|Los Angeles , CA
Co-Author(s):
Dara Ghahremani, PhD
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior|Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA|Los Angeles, CA
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior|Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA|Los Angeles, CA
Sarah Chang, B.S.
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior|Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA|Los Angeles , CA
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior|Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA|Los Angeles , CA
Hoki Fung
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior|Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA|Los Angeles , CA
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior|Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA|Los Angeles , CA
Ziva Cooper, PhD
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior|Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles , CA|Los Angeles , CA
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior|Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles , CA|Los Angeles , CA
Carrie Bearden, PhD
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior|Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles,
Los Angeles, CA|Los Angeles, CA
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior|Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles,
Los Angeles, CA|Los Angeles, CA
Introduction:
Recently, prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE) has been linked to psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) in early childhood along with growing evidence for associations between early cannabis use and elevated psychosis risk. However, underlying neural mechanisms and the relationship between PCE and PLEs in early adolescent development are not well understood. The neurocognitive and neurochemical substrates involved in reward processing may be implicated in this association. Prenatal cannabis exposure may modify reward circuitry implicated in psychosis risk (Fig.1). Task-based functional neuroimaging during a reward incentive task provides an informative way to study these neurobiological relationships.
·Figure 1: Proposed model of increased risk for psychotic-like experiences following prenatal cannabis exposure.
Methods:
We analyzed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioral data collected during performance of the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) Task from 11,876 participants in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study (exposed youth N=655 at baseline, and unexposed N=11,221 at baseline). We examined three waves of data: baseline (Mage=9.91±0.63 years, 47.61% females), two-year follow-up (N=11,862), and four-year follow-up (N =3,062). We tested cross-sectional relationships between activation in reward-related brain regions during reward anticipation and PLEs (total score and distress) at baseline assessed by the Prodromal Questionnaire – Brief Child Version (PQ-BC). Group (unexposed vs. exposed)-by-region interactions were tested on each region of interest, including the striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Covariates included site, family membership, age, sex, and socioeconomic status. False discovery rate correction was applied. Behavioral performance measures on the MID task (response accuracy and reaction time) were analyzed across the three waves of data with mixed-level analyses of variance. Factors included trial type (6 levels: -$5, -$.20, +$0, +$.20, +$5; within-subjects) and group (2 levels: exposed to cannabis prenatally; between-subject).
Results:
PCE was positively associated with PLE scores (std. β =1.350, q<.001) and distress (std. β =1.340, q <.001), longitudinally across three waves of data. Across groups, PLEs were inversely associated with reward anticipation-related activation in the striatum (std. β = -.030, q< .001), and vmPFC (std. β =-.026, q=.010) at baseline. Significant group-by-ROI interactions indicated that activation was more blunted in both striatum (q<.001) and vmPFC (q<.001) in PCE youth (see Table 1 for full results). PCE youth displayed faster reaction time in the MID task, regardless of trial type, compared to unexposed youth (main effect of group on RTs: p<.001). Despite faster reaction times, PCE youth were less accurate when responding to large loss, neutral, and small reward trials (p's<.001) in comparison to unexposed youth; however, there were no statistically significant group differences in accuracy for small loss or large reward trials. Greater PLEs were associated with higher accuracy for large reward trials (std. β = .194, q=.023) in the PCE group. Greater PLEs were also associated with slower reaction times across trial types in the PCE group (std. β = .004, q<.001).
·Table 1. Associations between psychotic-like experiences, prenatal cannabis exposure, and activation in reward-related brain regions during reward anticipation.
Conclusions:
Our findings indicate that the association between prenatal cannabis exposure and psychotic-like experiences persists into early adolescence. Neurobehavioral response to reward anticipation is altered in youth exposed to cannabis prenatally and is associated with the severity of psychotic-like symptoms. PLEs are associated with blunted neural responses to reward-related cues, with stronger effects for those exposed to cannabis prenatally. This dampened activation in reward-related regions may represent a biomarker of disrupted reward processing during development. Faster reaction times across trials and trial-type accuracy differences in youth exposed to cannabis may reflect heightened reward-related motivation.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Neurodevelopmental/ Early Life (eg. ADHD, autism) 1
Psychiatric (eg. Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia) 2
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Reward and Punishment
Lifespan Development:
Early life, Adolescence, Aging
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
BOLD fMRI
Keywords:
FUNCTIONAL MRI
PEDIATRIC
Psychiatric
Psychiatric Disorders
Schizophrenia
Sub-Cortical
Other - cannabis
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
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