2). With the exception of the anterior thalamic radiation, all correlations were negative, indicating that lower FA was associated with greater BOLD response. Figure 2 Atlas-based regions of interest showing significant correlations with BOLD response: anterior corona radiata (ACR; purple); anterior thalamic radiation (ATR; blue); external capsule (EC; light orange); retrolenticular part of the internal capsule (RLIC; … Pearson correlations between averaged FA values for the significant tracts and alcohol use measures are shown in Table 2. White matter

Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical integrity was negatively related to measures of alcohol use severity and duration, with correlations of modest magnitude. Anterior corona radiata, cingulate gyrus, fornix, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and inferior frontooccipital fasciculus consistently showed significant relations with alcohol use measures. Of the measures, number of years of drinking and drinks per drinking day were related most frequently to FA. Table 2 Bivariate correlations of white matter ROIs with alcohol use measures. Regions on the BOLD contrast maps where greater cue reactivity

was associated with lower averaged FA included the medial Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical frontal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, precuneus, parahippocampal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, insula, thalamus, putamen, caudate, and cerebellum (Fig. 3). The positive correlation noted Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical above was between FA of the anterior thalamic radiation and BOLD response in the orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, pons, and parahippocampal gyrus (Fig. 4). Clusters with significant correlations are listed in Table 3. Table 3 White matter tracts with locations of significantly correlated clusters of BOLD activation. Figure 3 Overlapping clusters of BOLD activation in the (A) thalamus

and caudate, (B) medial frontal gyrus, (C) parahippocampal gyrus, and (D) cingulate gyrus, correlated with FA in the anterior corona radiata (ACR; purple); anterior thalamic radiation (ATR; blue); … Figure 4 Positive correlation between BOLD activation and FA in the anterior thalamic radiation (ATR). Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Discussion This study investigated the functional implications of white matter integrity in the Trichostatin A context of heavy alcohol consumption by correlating FA values of 18 white matter tracts with BOLD activation during an alcohol cue. FA values of 10 Resminostat tracts subserving frontoparietal and corticolimbic networks showed significant correlations with BOLD response to the taste of alcohol. All but one of these correlations were negative, supporting the prediction that lower white matter integrity would be related to heightened response to the alcohol cue. Evidence from a variety of imaging paradigms has implicated abnormalities of connections among the thalamus, basal ganglia, limbic system, and cerebral cortex in substance abuse and dependence.