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Brain Connectivity in Cannabis Users

Brain networks depicting cannabis craving in human.

NeuroscienceNews.com

Center for BrainHealth

Overview

Researchers at the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas have studied the underlying brain networks in long-term cannabis users to identify patterns of brain connectivity when users covet or desire to consume cannabis. The study found that brain connectivity during craving is not static but has fluctuations in connection patterns between reward-related regions rich in dopamine. The findings, which were published in the journal Human Brain Mapping, will help support the development of better treatment strategies for cannabis dependence. The National Institute of Drug Abuse funded the study. The researchers suggest that the identified differences in large-scale brain network patterns in long-term cannabis users when craving could be used as biomarkers of cannabis use disorder to aid treatment strategies. Read on Neuroscience News.

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Francesca Filbey, PhD

Bert Moore Endowed Chair and Professor, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences Director, Neuroimaging of Reward Dynamics (NiRD) Lab

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