Environments as Smoking Cues: Imaging Brain Substrates, Developing New Treatments (CameraCue)

Environments as Smoking Cues: Imaging Brain Substrates, Developing New Treatments

The overarching goals of this proposal are to 1) identify the network of brain regions specifically activated by personal smoking environment cues and 2) to evaluate the effects of exposure to these cues on smoke self-administration and subjective reactivity. The results of this study will inform the development of novel and more efficacious cue-exposures therapies targeted at helping smokers quit smoking and will provide novel mechanism information regarding the influence of environmental context on drug taking.

The investigator hypothesizes that cue-exposure treatments (CETs), in which drug use is prevented during exposure to drug cues (e.g. lit cigarette) have been of limited efficacy in part because they have not included cues representative of the contexts in which drug use occurs. By demonstrating that context cues have a differential and robust influence on brain and behavioral responses, we will have provided a substantial basis for including such stimuli in the context of treatment. At the same time, we will have identified novel mechanisms by which such stimuli promote continued drug use and relapse.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Smoking; Healthy
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Quit Smoking 6 hours; Behavioral: Quit Smoking 24 hours

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 67
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Carolina
    • Durham, North Carolina, United States, 27705
      • Duke University Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 55 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• generally healthy
• between the ages of 18 and 55
• smoking an average of 5 cigarettes per day for at least one year
• breath CO (carbon monoxide) level > 8 ppm (if ≤ 8 ppm, then NicAlert Strip > 2)
• no interest in quitting smoking for the duration of time required for the experiment
• right-handed as measured by a three-item scale used in our laboratory
• ability to identify 4 personal smoking and 4 personal non-smoking places

Exclusion Criteria:

• inability to attend all required experimental sessions
• significant health problems
• use of psychoactive medications
• use of smokeless tobacco
• current alcohol or drug abuse
• use of illegal drugs as measured by urine drug screen
• current use of nicotine replacement therapy or other smoking cessation treatment
• presence of conditions that would make MRI unsafe (e.g., pacemaker)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Signal Change in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) BOLD Signal between Personal Environment Pictures Relative to Standard Environment Pictures	During fMRI scanning participants will view pictures of personal and standard smoking and non-smoking environments; and also pictures of smoking-related and non-smoking related objects	following 24 hours of smoking abstinence

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Duke University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Joseph McClernon, Ph.D, Duke University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• McClernon FJ, Conklin CA, Kozink RV, Adcock RA, Sweitzer MM, Addicott MA, Chou YH, Chen NK, Hallyburton MB, DeVito AM. Hippocampal and Insular Response to Smoking-Related Environments: Neuroimaging Evidence for Drug-Context Effects in Nicotine Dependence. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2016 Feb;41(3):877-85. doi: 10.1038/npp.2015.214. Epub 2015 Jul 16.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: December 1, 2012
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 1, 2014
• Study Completion (Actual): July 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 23, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 23, 2013
• First Posted (Estimate): April 25, 2013

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): January 31, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 30, 2017
• Last Verified: January 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: fMRI; nicotine; cigarettes; smoking environment; cue-exposure
• Other Study ID Numbers: Pro00033975