Effects of acute exercise on craving and cortical hemodynamics under drug-cue exposure in MA-dependent individuals

Abstract

Background: Methamphetamine (MA) dependent individuals who want to break free of their drug habit or guard against a relapse often find it hard to overcome cravings induced by drug-related cues they are bound to encounter. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of acute virtual reality (VR) enhanced physical exercise on cue-induced cravings in MA-dependent individuals.

Methods: Thirty MA-dependent individuals performed a drug-cue reactivity task both before and after a 10 min VR-enhanced competitive cycling exercise. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was recorded during the pre- and post-exercise drug-cue reactivity tasks.

Results: MA dependent individuals show higher hemodynamic responses in prefrontal cortex (PFC) to drug-related cues than to neutral cues. After acute exercise, hemodynamic responses in PFC, including bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex, were attenuated under the same drug-related cues exposure. Acute exercise also affected the functional connectivity between PFC and motor cortex in response to drug-related cues versus neutral cues.

Conclusions: These results suggest that a single session of VR-enhanced competitive cycling exercise facilitates MA-dependent individuals' self-control over their cue-induced cravings by modulating cortical activations and brain functional networks.

Keywords: Brain networks; Drug-cue reactivity task; Functional near-infrared spectroscopy; General linear model; Graph theory; Virtual reality enhanced exercise.