Misconfigured striatal connectivity profiles in smokers

Dysregulation of frontal cortical inputs to the striatum is foundational in the neural basis of substance use disorder (SUD). Neuroanatomical and electrophysiological data increasingly show that striatal nodes receive appreciable input from numerous cortical areas, and that the combinational properties of these multivariate “connectivity profiles” play a predominant role in shaping striatal activity and function. Yet, how abnormal configuration of striatal connectivity profiles might contribute to SUD is unknown. Here, we implemented a novel “connectivity profile analysis” (CPA) approach using resting-state functional connectivity data to facilitate detection of different types of connectivity profile “misconfiguration” that may reflect distinct forms of aberrant circuit plasticity in SUD. We examined 46 nicotine-dependent smokers and 33 non-smokers and showed that both dorsal striatum (DS) and ventral striatum (VS) connectivity profiles with frontal cortex were misconfigured in smokers—but in doubly distinct fashions. DS misconfigurations were stable across sated and acute abstinent states (indicative of a “trait” circuit adaptation) whereas VS misconfigurations emerged only during acute abstinence (indicative of a “state” circuit adaptation). Moreover, DS misconfigurations involved abnormal connection strength rank order arrangement, whereas VS misconfigurations involved abnormal aggregate strength. We found that caudal ventral putamen in smokers uniquely displayed multiple types of connectivity profile misconfiguration, whose interactive magnitude was linked to dependence severity, and that VS misconfiguration magnitude correlated positively with withdrawal severity during acute abstinence. Findings underscore the potential for approaches that more aptly model the neurobiological composition of corticostriatal circuits to yield deeper insights into the neural basis of SUD.