Anger and depression in cocaine addiction: association with the orbitofrontal cortex

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 138; no. 1; pp. 13 - 22
• Main Authors: Goldstein, Rita Z., Alia-Klein, Nelly, Leskovjan, Andreana C., Fowler, Joanna S., Wang, Gene-Jack, Gur, Ruben C., Hitzemann, Robert, Volkow, Nora D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 30-01-2005
• Subjects: Adult; Anger; Chronic Disease; Cocaine-Related Disorders - epidemiology; Cocaine-Related Disorders - metabolism; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - epidemiology; Cognition Disorders - metabolism; Depression; Depression - epidemiology; Depression - metabolism; Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders - epidemiology; Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders - metabolism; Drug abuse; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Glucose - metabolism; Gyrus Cinguli - diagnostic imaging; Gyrus Cinguli - metabolism; Humans; Inhibition (Psychology); Mental Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Mental Disorders - metabolism; MMPI; MMPI-2; Personality Disorders - diagnosis; Personality Disorders - epidemiology; Personality Disorders - metabolism; PET 18FDG; Positron-Emission Tomography; Prefrontal Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Prefrontal Cortex - metabolism; Radiopharmaceuticals; Severity of Illness Index; Anger; Drug abuse; MMPI-2; Depression; PET 18FDG
• ISSN: 0925-4927; 0165-1781; 1872-7506
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2004.10.002

The high prevalence of anger, impulsivity and violence in cocaine addiction implicates chronic cocaine use in the compromise of higher-order inhibitory control neurocognitive processes. We used the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) anger content scale as a personality measure of inhibitory control and examined its association with glucose metabolism in the lateral orbitofrontal gyrus (LOFG) at rest as measured by positron emission tomography with 2-deoxy-2[
18F]fluoro-
d-glucose (PET
18FDG) in 17 recently abstinent cocaine-dependent subjects and 16 comparison subjects. Three additional variables—the MMPI-2 depression content scale, metabolism in the medial orbitofrontal gyrus (MOFG) and the anterior cingulate (AC) gyrus—were inspected. When level of education was statistically controlled for, the LOFG was significantly associated with anger within the cocaine group. No other region was associated with anger within the cocaine-dependent group, and the LOFG did not correlate with depression within any of the study groups. The present study confirms earlier reports in demonstrating a positive association between relative metabolism at rest in the LOFG and cognitive-behavioral and personality measures of inhibitory control in drug addiction: the higher the metabolism, the better the inhibitory control.