Trial reportBiological psychiatry2013
Down-regulation of amygdala and insula functional circuits by varenicline and nicotine in abstinent cigarette smokers.
Trial report in Biological psychiatry, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 83 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
83 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 133 citations in OpenAlex.
- Anxiety during abstinence from alcohol: A systematic review of rodent and human evidence for the anterior insula's role in the abstinence network.Addiction biology · 2021Pooled it
- Neurobiological impact of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonists: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of pharmacologic neuroimaging studies.Biological psychiatry · 2015Pooled it
- Efficacy and Neural Mechanisms of Mindfulness Meditation Among Adults With Internet Gaming Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Short-term nicotine deprivation alters dorsal anterior cingulate glutamate concentration and concomitant cingulate-cortical functional connectivity.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2020Trial
- Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Applied to the Dorsolateral and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortices in Smokers Modifies Cognitive Circuits Implicated in the Nicotine Withdrawal Syndrome.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2020Trial
- The impacts of actual and perceived nicotine administration on insula functional connectivity with the anterior cingulate cortex and nucleus accumbens.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2019Trial
- Pharmacological intervention and abstinence in smokers undergoing cessation treatment: A psychophysiological study.International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology · 2018Trial
- Functional network connectivity predicts treatment outcome during treatment of nicotine use disorder.Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging · 2017Trial
- Neural Signatures of Cognitive Flexibility and Reward Sensitivity Following Nicotinic Receptor Stimulation in Dependent Smokers: A Randomized Trial.JAMA psychiatry · 2017Trial
- Nicotinic modulation of salience network connectivity and centrality in schizophrenia.Journal of psychiatric research · 2017Trial
- Effects of Varenicline on Neural Correlates of Alcohol Salience in Heavy Drinkers.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2015Trial
- Neuroimaging as the 'missing link' for preclinical to clinical translation: an example using N-acetylcysteine among individuals with cocaine- and opioid-use disorders receiving methadone treatment.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- A widespread internal brain state for fentanyl withdrawal.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Transformative Effects of Mindfulness Meditation Training on the Dynamic Reconfiguration of Executive and Default Mode Networks in Internet Gaming Disorder.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
- Brain reactivity to nicotine cues mediates the link between resting-state connectivity and cue-induced craving in individuals who smoke or vape nicotine.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Changes in distinct brain systems identified with fMRI during smoking cessation treatment with varenicline: a review.Psychopharmacology · 2024Review
- Increased ventral anterior insular connectivity to sports betting availability indexes problem gambling.Addiction biology · 2024Article
- Functional connectivity changes in the brain of adolescents with internet addiction: A systematic literature review of imaging studies.PLOS mental health · 2024Article
- Connecting Circuits with Networks in Addiction Neuroscience: A Salience Network Perspective.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- The association of amygdala-insula functional connectivity and adolescent e-cigarette use via sleep problems and depressive symptoms.Addictive behaviors · 2022Article
23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlthough the amygdala and insula are regarded as critical neural substrates perpetuating cigarette smoking, little is known about their circuit-level interactions with interconnected regions during nicotine withdrawal or following pharmacotherapy administration. To elucidate neurocircuitry associated with early smoking abstinence, we examined the impact of varenicline and nicotine, two modestly efficacious pharmacologic cessation aids, on amygdala- and insula-centered circuits using resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC).
methodsIn a functional magnetic resonance imaging study employing a two-drug, placebo-controlled design, 24 overnight-abstinent smokers and 20 nonsmokers underwent ∼17 days of varenicline and placebo pill administration and were scanned, on different days under each condition, wearing a transdermal nicotine or placebo patch. We examined the impact of varenicline and nicotine (both alone and in combination) on amygdala- and insula-centered rsFC using seed-based assessments.
resultsBeginning with a functionally defined amygdala seed, we observed that rsFC strength in an amygdala-insula circuit was down-regulated by varenicline and nicotine in abstinent smokers. Using this identified insula region as a new seed, both drugs similarly decreased rsFC between the insula and constituents of the canonical default-mode network (posterior cingulate cortex, ventromedial/dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, parahippocampus). Drug-induced rsFC modulations were critically linked with nicotine withdrawal, as similar effects were not detected in nonsmokers.
conclusionsThese results suggest that nicotine withdrawal is associated with elevated amygdala-insula and insula-default-mode network interactions. As these potentiated interactions were down-regulated by two pharmacotherapies, this effect may be a characteristic shared by pharmacologic agents promoting smoking cessation. Decreased rsFC in these circuits may contribute to amelioration of subjective withdrawal symptoms.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.