The effect of ibudilast on functional connectivity in methamphetamine use disorder

Poster No:

687 

Submission Type:

Abstract Submission 

Authors:

Milky Kohno1, Laura Dennis2, Jazryn Nagum3, tianna huss3, Alea Sonnon3, Sophia Swain3, Joyce Zafaralla3, Wesley Ng3, Wililam Hoffman2

Institutions:

1Portland VA Health Care System, Portland, OR, 2Portland VA Health Care System, PORTLAND, OR, 3Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR

First Author:

Milky Kohno, PhD  
Portland VA Health Care System
Portland, OR

Co-Author(s):

Laura Dennis, BS  
Portland VA Health Care System
PORTLAND, OR
Jazryn Nagum, BS  
Oregon Health and Science University
Portland, OR
tianna huss  
Oregon Health and Science University
Portland, OR
Alea Sonnon  
Oregon Health and Science University
Portland, OR
Sophia Swain  
Oregon Health and Science University
Portland, OR
Joyce Zafaralla  
Oregon Health and Science University
Portland, OR
Wesley Ng  
Oregon Health and Science University
Portland, OR
Wililam Hoffman, PhD, MD  
Portland VA Health Care System
PORTLAND, OR

Introduction:

Methamphetamine (MA) exposure has long-lasting neurotoxic effects, and evidence for MA-induced neuroinflammation comes from both clinical and preclinical studies. Animal models show that MA exposure leads to morphological changes that are consistent with reactive gliosis and increases the expression of factors associated with immune response activation, including pro-inflammatory cytokines released by activated glia cells. There is strong evidence that inflammatory biomarkers target the striatum and dysregulate dopamine signaling thereby contributing to dopamine-related behavioral deficits. Recently, animal models have shown a link between markers of inflammation and brain function; such that, administration of inflammatory cytokines alters the activation of reward-related brain regions and modifies the response to hedonic reward. These findings compliment neuroimaging results from humans showing a link between inflammation and striatal dysfunction. Taken together, these studies suggest that reducing inflammation is a reasonable therapeutic target and has the potential to accelerate effective strategies for stimulant-use disorders that present with inflammatory brain markers and abnormal brain function. This randomized placebo-controlled study of ibudilast, a nonselective phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitor tested whether reducing inflammation improved brain function in individuals diagnosed with a methamphetamine use disorder.

Methods:

Thirteen participants with MA use disorder completed a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial of ibudilast. Neuroimaging measures, neurocognitive testing, and measures of drug use and craving was collected before and after the 6-week trial. Resting-state data was collected on a 3T Siemens TIM Trio. Standard preprocessing steps were applied. Seed-based analysis was performed using regions of interest of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and striatum. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA on parameter estimates between DLFPC and nucleus accumbens were examined in SPSS 22.

Results:

Preliminary results indiciate a significant time by treatment interaction on RSFC, where the ibudilast group show greater change in the functional connectivity between the right DLPFC and nucleus accumbens. Increases in the connectivity between the right DLPFC and striatum were correlated with reduction in MA use in the ibudilast group but not in the control group.

Conclusions:

The results suggest that ibudilast alters brain connectivity, as indicated by significant time by treatment interaction on right DLPFC to ventral striatum connectivity. The results suggest that a downregulation of inflammation may positively effect corticostriatal connectivity to reduce drug use. Although preliminary, results provide a scientific basis for additional testing of ibudilast as a potential adjunct to treatment for MA dependence and other drug-use disorders

Disorders of the Nervous System:

Psychiatric (eg. Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia) 1

Physiology, Metabolism and Neurotransmission :

Pharmacology and Neurotransmission 2

Keywords:

Addictions

1|2Indicates the priority used for review

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