TY - JOUR
T1 - Cannabidiol reverses attentional bias to cigarette cues in a human experimental model of tobacco withdrawal
AU - Hindocha, Chandni
AU - Freeman, Tom P.
AU - Grabski, Meryem
AU - Stroud, Jack B.
AU - Crudgington, Holly
AU - Davies, Alan C.
AU - Das, Ravi K.
AU - Lawn, William
AU - Morgan, Celia J.A.
AU - Curran, H. Valerie
N1 - © 2018 The Authors. Addiction published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for the Study of Addiction.
PY - 2018/8/2
Y1 - 2018/8/2
N2 - Background and Aims: Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-intoxicating cannabinoid found in cannabis, may be a promising novel smoking cessation treatment due to its anxiolytic properties, minimal side effects and research showing that it may modify drug cue salience. We used an experimental medicine approach with dependent cigarette smokers to investigate if (1) overnight nicotine abstinence, compared with satiety, will produce greater attentional bias (AB), higher pleasantness ratings of cigarette-related stimuli and increased craving and withdrawal; and (2) CBD in comparison to placebo, would attenuate AB, pleasantness of cigarette-related stimuli, craving and withdrawal and not produce any side effects. Design: Randomized, double-blind cross-over study with a fixed satiated session followed by two overnight abstinent sessions. Setting: UK laboratory. Participants: Thirty non-treatment-seeking, dependent cigarette smokers recruited from the community. Intervention and comparator: 800 mg oral CBD, or matched placebo (PBO) in a counterbalanced order. Measurements: AB to pictorial tobacco cues was recorded using a visual probe task and an explicit rating task. Withdrawal, craving, side effects, heart rate and blood pressure were assessed repeatedly. Findings: When participants received PBO, tobacco abstinence increased AB (P = 0.001, d = 0.789) compared with satiety. However, CBD reversed this effect, such that automatic AB was directed away from cigarette cues (P = 0.007, d = 0.704) and no longer differed from satiety (P = 0.82). Compared with PBO, CBD also reduced explicit pleasantness of cigarette images (P = 0.011; d = 0.514). Craving (Bayes factor = 7.08) and withdrawal (Bayes factor = 6.95) were unaffected by CBD, but greater in abstinence compared with satiety. Systolic blood pressure decreased under CBD during abstinence. Conclusions: A single 800-mg oral dose of cannabidiol reduced the salience and pleasantness of cigarette cues, compared with placebo, after overnight cigarette abstinence in dependent smokers. Cannabidiol did not influence tobacco craving or withdrawal or any subjectively rated side effects.
AB - Background and Aims: Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-intoxicating cannabinoid found in cannabis, may be a promising novel smoking cessation treatment due to its anxiolytic properties, minimal side effects and research showing that it may modify drug cue salience. We used an experimental medicine approach with dependent cigarette smokers to investigate if (1) overnight nicotine abstinence, compared with satiety, will produce greater attentional bias (AB), higher pleasantness ratings of cigarette-related stimuli and increased craving and withdrawal; and (2) CBD in comparison to placebo, would attenuate AB, pleasantness of cigarette-related stimuli, craving and withdrawal and not produce any side effects. Design: Randomized, double-blind cross-over study with a fixed satiated session followed by two overnight abstinent sessions. Setting: UK laboratory. Participants: Thirty non-treatment-seeking, dependent cigarette smokers recruited from the community. Intervention and comparator: 800 mg oral CBD, or matched placebo (PBO) in a counterbalanced order. Measurements: AB to pictorial tobacco cues was recorded using a visual probe task and an explicit rating task. Withdrawal, craving, side effects, heart rate and blood pressure were assessed repeatedly. Findings: When participants received PBO, tobacco abstinence increased AB (P = 0.001, d = 0.789) compared with satiety. However, CBD reversed this effect, such that automatic AB was directed away from cigarette cues (P = 0.007, d = 0.704) and no longer differed from satiety (P = 0.82). Compared with PBO, CBD also reduced explicit pleasantness of cigarette images (P = 0.011; d = 0.514). Craving (Bayes factor = 7.08) and withdrawal (Bayes factor = 6.95) were unaffected by CBD, but greater in abstinence compared with satiety. Systolic blood pressure decreased under CBD during abstinence. Conclusions: A single 800-mg oral dose of cannabidiol reduced the salience and pleasantness of cigarette cues, compared with placebo, after overnight cigarette abstinence in dependent smokers. Cannabidiol did not influence tobacco craving or withdrawal or any subjectively rated side effects.
KW - Abstinence
KW - attentional bias
KW - cannabidiol
KW - cigarette dependence
KW - craving
KW - withdrawal
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85047078580&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/add.14243
DO - 10.1111/add.14243
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85047078580
SN - 0965-2140
VL - 113
SP - 1696
EP - 1705
JO - Addiction
JF - Addiction
IS - 9
ER -