Study Reveals the Management of Nicotine Dependent

According to senior investigator Brett Froeliger, Ph.D., professor of Psychiatry, “having difficulties with IC may make it harder to avoid smoking when the urge arises, in response to all the cues and contexts in the environment that trigger the behavior to light a cigarette.”  

TBS stands for transcranial magnetic stimulation, and it refers to two different types of magnetic stimulation: continuous TBS (cTBS) and intermittent TBS (iTBS). In contrast to iTBS, which uses the same number of pulses irregularly for more than 190 seconds, cTBS involves repeatedly administering these three bursts for 40 seconds.  

In the past, magnetic stimulation has been utilized to treat many mental diseases and illnesses. While iTBS to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex—a region of the brain in charge of cognitive functions—is FDA-approved for treating major depressive disorder, cTBS has undergone experimental testing to treat generalized anxiety disorder.  

The study assessed the effects of both cTBS and iTBS on the right inferior frontal gyrus, a brain region highly associated with IC, and involved 37 subjects, the majority of whom were in their late 40s. Researchers discovered that while both cTBS and iTBS decreased urges and, as a result, smoking, cTBS enhanced IC. The study covered by the Biology Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.  

“Identifying treatments that improve IC may help reduce smoking and can potentially help with preventing relapse following when a person attempts to quit smoking,” said Froeliger. Treatments that improve IC may also assist individuals with other substance use disorders in breaking the cycle of drug use; however, additional research is required to examine the clinical value of TBS for treating substance use disorders.  

Recent article in Biological Psychiatry CNNI titled “Effects of Hyper direct Pathway Theta-Burst Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Inhibitory Control, Craving, and Smoking in Adults with Nicotine Dependence: A Double-Blind Randomised Crossover Trial” was released.  

Along with Froeliger, other study authors include Stanford University and the University of South Carolina academics, as well as Muaid Ithman, MD, associate professor of clinical psychiatry, Spencer Upton, a Ph.D. candidate at MU, and Alexander Brown, a TBS technician and data analyst. None are alleged by the authors to exist.  

According to recent research from the University of Missouri School of Medicine, there might be another way to cure cigarette addictions. TBS, or theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation, has been demonstrated to enhance self-control, lower cravings, and subsequently, reduce smoking. TBS uses strong, rapidly varying magnetic field pulses to affect brain function.  

People with nicotine addiction often display notable structural and functional differences in the brain when compared to healthy non-smokers. Smoking has been shown to be associated with less grey matter, which means there are less neurons and other types of brain cells. Research suggests that these variances may affect inhibitory control (IC), which is the capacity of humans to regulate impulsive urges and stimulus-related reactions.