Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39725679›Full record

ArticleAlcohol, clinical & experimental research2025

A multimodal neuroimaging study of youth at risk for substance use disorders: Functional magnetic resonance imaging and [

Maja Nikolic, Sylvia M L Cox, Natalia Jaworska, Natalie Castellanos-Ryan, Alain Dagher, Frank Vitaro, Mara Brendgen, Sophie Parent, Michel Boivin, Sylvana Côté and 3 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Alcohol, clinical & experimental research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Maja NikolicIntegrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6211-2505
Sylvia M L CoxDepartment of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6507-4973
Natalia JaworskaDepartment of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Natalie Castellanos-RyanSchool of Psychoeducation, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Alain DagherDepartment of Neurology & Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Frank VitaroSchool of Psychoeducation, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Mara BrendgenAzrieli Research Center of the CHU Ste-Justine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Sophie ParentSchool of Psychoeducation, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Michel BoivinDepartment of Psychology, Université Laval, Quebec, Quebec, Canada.
Sylvana CôtéAzrieli Research Center of the CHU Ste-Justine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Richard E TremblaySchool of Psychoeducation, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Jean R SéguinAzrieli Research Center of the CHU Ste-Justine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Marco LeytonIntegrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1243-2252

Funding

CIHR MOP-133537CIHR MOP-44072CIHR MOP-97910Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé 35282Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé 981055Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé 991027Fonds de Recherche du Québec-Société et Culture 2002-RS-79238Fonds de Recherche du Québec-Société et Culture 2009-RG-124779Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada 410-99-1048Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada 839-2000-1008
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAdolescent alcohol use is the norm, but only some develop a substance use disorder. The increased risk might reflect heightened mesocorticolimbic responses to reward-related cues but results published to date have been inconsistent.

methodsYoung social drinkers (age 18.5 ± 0.6 y.o.) who have been followed since birth were recruited from high- versus low-risk trajectories based on externalizing (EXT) behavioral traits. All had functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans to measure mesocorticolimbic responses to alcohol, juice, and water cues (High EXT: 20F/10M; Low EXT: 15F/12M). Most had positron emission tomography (PET) [

resultsCompared with the low EXT group, high EXT participants reported larger subjective responses to the alcohol and juice cues (vs. water). Despite this, a main effect of group was not seen for brain activation responses to the alcohol and juice cues. Instead, low EXT participants exhibited higher mesocorticolimbic activations to alcohol than juice, whereas these activations did not differ in the high EXT group. Across all participants, alcohol (vs. water) blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses in the striatum and amygdala were associated with midbrain [

conclusionYoung social drinkers at high versus low risk for substance use disorders did not exhibit larger mesocorticolimbic BOLD activations to alcohol-related cues and their responses poorly differentiated alcohol from juice. These observations raise the possibility that (i) diminished mesocorticolimbic BOLD differentiations between reward-related cues might be a marker of increased risk for substance use disorders, and (ii) previously reported large BOLD responses to drug-related cues in people with substance use disorders might better identify the disease than pre-existing vulnerability.

Indexed as

addictionbiomarkerendophenotypereward processing

Identifiers

PMID39725679
PMCPMC11828974

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

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.