PMID- 38447413 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20240318 LR - 20240318 IS - 2213-1582 (Electronic) IS - 2213-1582 (Linking) VI - 41 DP - 2024 TI - Conflict monitoring and emotional processing in 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and methamphetamine users - A comparative neurophysiological study. PG - 103579 LID - S2213-1582(24)00018-4 [pii] LID - 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103579 [doi] LID - 103579 AB - In stimulant use and addiction, conflict control processes are crucial for regulating substance use and sustaining abstinence, which can be particularly challenging in social-affective situations. Users of methamphetamine (METH, "Ice") and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "Ecstasy") both experience impulse control deficits, but display different social-affective and addictive profiles. We thus aimed to compare the effects of chronic use of the substituted amphetamines METH and MDMA on conflict control processes in different social-affective contexts (i.e., anger and happiness) and investigate their underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. For this purpose, chronic but recently abstinent users of METH (n = 38) and MDMA (n = 42), as well as amphetamine-naive healthy controls (n = 83) performed an emotional face-word Stroop paradigm, while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Instead of substance-specific differences, both MDMA and METH users showed smaller behavioral effects of cognitive-emotional conflict processing (independently of emotional valence) and selective deficits in emotional processing of anger content. Both effects were underpinned by stronger P3 ERP modulations suggesting that users of substituted amphetamines employ altered stimulus-response mapping and decision-making. Given that these processes are modulated by noradrenaline and that both MDMA and METH use may be associated with noradrenergic dysfunctions, the noradrenaline system may underlie the observed substance-related similarities. Better understanding the functional relevance of this currently still under-researched neurotransmitter and its functional changes in chronic users of substituted amphetamines is thus an important avenue for future research. CI - Copyright (c) 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. FAU - Opitz, Antje AU - Opitz A AD - Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Germany. FAU - Zimmermann, Josua AU - Zimmermann J AD - Experimental and Clinical Pharmacopsychology, Department of Adult Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland. FAU - Cole, David M AU - Cole DM AD - Experimental and Clinical Pharmacopsychology, Department of Adult Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Translational Psychiatry Lab, University Psychiatric Clinics Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. FAU - Coray, Rebecca C AU - Coray RC AD - Experimental and Clinical Pharmacopsychology, Department of Adult Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland. FAU - Zachai, Anna AU - Zachai A AD - Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Germany. FAU - Baumgartner, Markus R AU - Baumgartner MR AD - Center for Forensic Hair Analytics, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. FAU - Steuer, Andrea E AU - Steuer AE AD - Department of Forensic Pharmacology & Toxicology, Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. FAU - Pilhatsch, Maximilian AU - Pilhatsch M AD - Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Elblandklinikum, Radebeul, Germany. FAU - Quednow, Boris B AU - Quednow BB AD - Experimental and Clinical Pharmacopsychology, Department of Adult Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland. FAU - Beste, Christian AU - Beste C AD - Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Germany. FAU - Stock, Ann-Kathrin AU - Stock AK AD - Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Germany; Biopsychology, Department of Psychology, School of Science, TU Dresden, Germany. Electronic address: ann-kathrin.stock@ukdd.de. LA - eng PT - Journal Article DEP - 20240215 PL - Netherlands TA - Neuroimage Clin JT - NeuroImage. Clinical JID - 101597070 RN - KE1SEN21RM (N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine) RN - 44RAL3456C (Methamphetamine) RN - 0 (Amphetamines) RN - X4W3ENH1CV (Norepinephrine) SB - IM MH - Humans MH - *N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine/pharmacology MH - *Methamphetamine/pharmacology MH - Amphetamines MH - *Substance-Related Disorders MH - Norepinephrine PMC - PMC10924209 OTO - NOTNLM OT - Conflict control OT - ERP OT - MDMA OT - Methamphetamine OT - Social cognition OT - Stroop effect COIS- Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. EDAT- 2024/03/07 00:42 MHDA- 2024/03/18 06:44 PMCR- 2024/02/15 CRDT- 2024/03/06 18:10 PHST- 2023/10/03 00:00 [received] PHST- 2024/02/06 00:00 [revised] PHST- 2024/02/07 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2024/03/18 06:44 [medline] PHST- 2024/03/07 00:42 [pubmed] PHST- 2024/03/06 18:10 [entrez] PHST- 2024/02/15 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - S2213-1582(24)00018-4 [pii] AID - 103579 [pii] AID - 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103579 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Neuroimage Clin. 2024;41:103579. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103579. Epub 2024 Feb 15.