Biology subjects

Bilek, E.

Publications and source records attributed to Bilek, E..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Neurostructural correlates of real-life social drinking risk in alcohol use disorder

The social context of alcohol consumption is increasingly recognized as an important factor in the development of alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, individuals with AUD may differ in how strongly alcohol use by people around them is associated with their own drinking, and the neurostructural basis of this variation remains unclear. Here we studied 83 individuals with AUD (53 men, 30 women; mean [SD] age, 37.20 [12.42] years; median DSM-5 AUD criteria, 4) using six weeks of ecological momentary assessment and structural magnetic resonance imaging (n = 80). Across 5,221 non-solitary observations, greater exposure to surrounding drinkers was associated with increased odds of momentary drinking (odds ratio, 4.23; 95% CI, 3.60-4.97), with significant between-person variation that we quantified as social drinking risk (SDR). Higher SDR was associated with lower gray matter volume in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (T = 5.40; P < .001) and weaker pregenual anterior cingulate cortex-ventral striatum structural covariance (T = 3.15; P = .032). These findings support SDR as an ecologically grounded phenotype linking daily-life social-context sensitivity to cingulostriatal structure, with potential relevance for mechanistic and interventional research in AUD.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Neural responses to instructed positive couple interaction: An fMRI study on compliment sharing

Love is probably the most fascinating feeling that a person ever experiences. However, little is known about what is happening in the brains of a romantic couple -the central and most salient relationship during adult age- while they are particularly tender and exchanging loving words with one another. To gain insight into nearly natural couple interaction, we collected data from N=84 individuals (including N=43 heterosexual couples) simultaneously in two functional magnetic resonance imaging scanners, while they sent and received compliments, i.e. short messages about what they liked about each other and their relationship. Activation patterns during compliment sharing in the individuals revealed a broad pattern of activated brain areas known to be involved in empathy and reward processing. Notably, the ventral striatum, including parts of the putamen, was activated particularly when selecting messages for the partner. This provides initial evidence that giving a verbal treat to a romantic partner seems to involve neural reward circuitry in the basal ganglia. These results can have important implications for the neurobiological mechanisms protecting and stabilizing romantic relationships, which build a highly relevant aspect of human life and health.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Neural network-based alterations during repeated heat pain stimulation in major depression

The current study aimed to identify alterations in brain activation and connectivity related to nociceptive processing and pain sensitization in major depressive disorder (MDD), using repeated heat pain stimulation during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 37 MDD patients and 33 healthy controls. Regional activation did not differ between groups, but functional connectivity was significantly decreased in MDD in a neural network connecting frontal, temporal and occipital areas (family-wise error (FWE)-corrected pFWE = 0.045). Supplemental analyses suggested a significant association between network connectivity and trait neuroticism (p = 0.007) but not with the clinical state or familiar risk of MDD (all p values > 0.13). Our data relate a network-based phenotype for altered pain processing and antinociceptive control to MDD and encourage future studies on the shared intermediate neural psychological risk architecture of MDD and chronic pain.

neuroscience↗