Altered intrinsic neural timescales and neurotransmitter activity in males with tobacco use disorder

Previous researches of tobacco use disorder (TUD) has overlooked the hierarchy of cortical functions and single modality design separated the relationship between macroscopic neuroimaging aberrance and microscopic molecular basis. At present, intrinsic timescale gradient of TUD and its molecular features are not fully understood. Our study recruited 146 male subjects, including 44 heavy smokers, 50 light smokers and 52 non-smokers, then obtained their rs-fMRI data and clinical scales related to smoking. Intrinsic neural timescale (INT) method was performed to describe how long neural information was stored in a brain region by calculating the autocorrelation function (ACF) of each voxel to examine the difference in the ability of information integration among the three groups. Then, correlation analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between INT abnormalities and clinical scales of smokers. Finally, cross-modal JuSpace toolbox was used to investigate the association between INT aberrance and the expression of specific receptor/transporters. Compared to healthy controls, TUD subjects displayed decreased INT in control network (CN), default mode network (DMN), sensorimotor areas and visual cortex, and such trend of decreasing INT was more pronounced in heavy smokers. Moreover, various neurotransmitters (including dopaminergic, acetylcholine and μ-opioid receptors) were involved in the molecular mechanism of timescale decreasing and differed in heavy and light smokers. These findings supplied novel insights into the brain functional aberrance in TUD from an intrinsic neural dynamic perspective and confirm INT was a potential neurobiological marker. And also established the connection between macroscopic imaging aberrance and microscopic molecular changes in TUD.