The Phase-Amplitude Coupling Changes Induced by Smoking Cue After 12-H Abstinence in Young Smokers

Tobacco use causes more than 8 million deaths globally each year, and the number of younger smokers is growing. It is of great practical importance to explore the underlying neural mechanisms behind the behaviour of young smokers. During cue-induced craving, reward system in the brain generates neural oscillations at specific frequencies. The phase–amplitude coupling (PAC) can capture interactions between these frequencies and may be a more sensitive quantitative indicator for characterizing abnormal neural oscillations in smokers. We monitored the electroencephalography (EEG) data of 30 young smokers during a cue task after 12 h of abstinence, dividing the data into the neutral and smoking-related groups based on different experimental stimuli to analyse the relationship between PAC and craving. In addition, we computed the functional connectivity (FC) under the PAC mechanism. The results showed that the young smokers exposed to smoking-related cues under short-term abstinence conditions had significantly lower PAC values and reduced FC strength in the right prefrontal cortex. In contrast, there was a significant increase in PAC values in the parietal cortex and enhanced FC strength. The correlation analysis showed significant correlations between PAC values and craving. These findings demonstrate for the first time that PAC abnormalities in young smokers exposed to smoking-related cues under short-term abstinence conditions may be related to craving and inhibitory control.