Cumulative cocaine exposure reorganizes prefrontal coupling with visual and frontoparietal networks: a group-ICA study

Tunalı Aslan S., Kıcıklar S., Fırat Z.

Ulusal Sinirbilim Kongresi, İstanbul, Türkiye, 10 - 13 Eylül 2026, ss.142, (Özet Bildiri)

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
  • Basıldığı Şehir: İstanbul
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.142
  • İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Objectives: In cocaine use disorder (CUD), it is unclear how resting-state network connectivity changes with cumulative cocaine exposure. Within patients, we examined how functional network coupling differs with earlier onset and longer use. Methods: Resting-state fMRI from the OpenNeuro SUDMEX_CONN dataset was analyzed in CONN toolbox. Group-ICA, 40 components was estimated across this sample. The second-level analysis was restricted to the 44 right-handed men with CUD: age of onset (range 11-44) was modeled as a continuous variable, controlling for age, education, mean head motion, and years of alcohol and cannabis use. Because onset age and use duration cannot be separated in an age-controlled cross-sectional design, this axis was interpreted as an index of cumulative exposure. Thresholds were voxel p<0.001 and cluster p-FDR<0.05, with between-component Bonferroni correction (p<0.00125). Results: Cumulative exposure was associated with connectivity in three components surviving correction, with effects concentrated in the coupling of prefrontal and parietal regions to visual (VN) and frontoparietal networks (FPN). FPN showed weaker coupling with the left frontal pole and superior frontal gyrus in earlier-onset patients; in a separate component, the right frontal pole showed weaker coupling with a VN (cluster p-FDR<0.001). Conversely, more posterior prefrontal (middle and inferior frontal gyrus) and parietal regions coupled more strongly with a VN. Exposure was therefore associated with a bidirectional reorganization. Conclusion: In CUD, cumulative exposure reorganizes functional coupling between VN and FPN, the most consistent effects involving reduced coupling of the frontal pole with FPN alongside increased coupling of posterior prefrontal and parietal regions with a VN. This pattern is consistent with reduced network segregation and with the developmental vulnerability of the frontal pole given its protracted maturation. Onset and duration cannot be disentangled in this cross-sectional design; the sample is small and male-only; therefore, causality cannot be inferred. Keywords: Cocaine use disorder, Independent component analysis, Resting-state functional connectivity