Patterns of cortical activation following motor tasks and psychological-inducing movie cues in heroin users: an fMRI study.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Drug abuse and addiction are worldwide health problems. However, few studies have used fMRI to investigate the effect of chronic heroin use on brain activation. This is a study along this line. METHOD: fMRI positive sites in the brain were recorded during different motor and sensory activities. RESULTS: Following motor activities, heroin users had more sites globally activated in the brain than in normal volunteers, with ex-heroin users being least reactive. Conversely, a "heroin puffing" movie produced more activation in ongoing-heroin and ex-heroin users than in the normal individuals, whereas a movie with explicit sexual content was less stimulatory in both groups of heroin users compared to normal individuals. CONCLUSIONS: These significant findings relative to the function of specific brain nuclei are discussed.