Aims and objectives
In the 5th Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5),
gambling disorder has been recently reclassified under the category “substance-related and addictive disorders”.
Functional MRI (fMRI) studies have been widely used to investigate correlations between pathological behaviors and brain networks activation [1-5].
In comparison,
the number of resting state fMRI (RS-fMRI) studies carried out on pathological gamblers through the use of an independent component analysis (ICA) without any seeding region and/or a priori hypothesis,
is still very small.
The aim of...
Methods and materials
Subject sample and neuropsychological assessment
Thirteen HCs and fourteen PGs were recruited (all right handed males; drugs free; mean age 35.96±9.56; no schooling differences).
In these subjects,
pathological gambling trend was measured by the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) and Gambling Attitudes and Beliefs Survey (GABS).
The severity and type of obsessive-compulsive symptoms was measured by the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Test (YBOCS),
anxiety by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI),
severity of depression by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI),
personality/behavioral construct of impulsiveness by Barratt Impulsiveness Scale...
Results
PGs,
displayed an increased functional connectivity,
compared to HCs,
in several networks including: left anterior cingulate cortex,
left accumbens nucleus,
left head of the caudate nucleus,
left middle temporal gyrus,
right insula,
right cerebellar hemisphere cortex and cerebellar vermis.
Moreover,
in the gambling group there were significantly higher scores compared to controls in psychometric testing of gambling tendencies,
obsessive compulsive symptoms,
as well as anxiety,
depression,
impulsivity and stress.
Conclusion
This preliminary study shows an hyperconnectivity together with an overactivation of specific regions in PGs.
In particular an increased functional connectivity has been observed in brain regions involved in processing of rewards and external stimuli,
in the attribution of spatiotemporal characteristics to events significance and the resulting decision-making process.
The persistent activation of specific functional networks during gambling tasks might represent the neurofunctional basis of PGs state-reduced triggering threshold to gaming underlying the clinical features of gambling disorder.
Personal information
C.
Gagliardo1,
G.
Maniaci2,
T.
Piccoli2,
M.
Marrale3,
G.
Collura3,
G.
La Tona1,
D.
La Barbera2,
C.
Cannizzaro4,
R.
Lagalla1
1.
Section of Radiological Sciences,
Department of Biopathology and Medical Biotechnologies,
University of Palermo,
Palermo,
Italy.
2.
Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences,
University of Palermo,
,
Palermo,
Italy.
3.
Department of Physics and Chemistry,
University of Palermo,
Palermo,
Italy
4.
Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother and Child Care "Giuseppe D'Alessandro",
University of Palermo,
Palermo,
Italy.
Acknowledgments
The Authors thank Drs...
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