The thalamus, with the highest density of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) in the brain, plays a central role in thalamo-cortical circuits that are implicated in nicotine addiction. However, little is known about whether the thalamo-cortical circuits are potentially predictive of smoking relapse. In the current study, a total of 125 participants (84 treatment-seeking male smokers and 41 age-matched male nonsmokers) were recruited. Structural and functional magnetic resonance images (MRI) were acquired from all participants. After a 12-week smoking cessation treatment with varenicline, the smokers were then divided into relapsers (n = 54) and nonrelapsers (n = 30). Then, we compared thalamic volume and seed-based thalamo-cortical resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) prior to the cessation treatment among relapsers, nonrelapsers and nonsmokers to investigate the associations between thalamic structure/function and smoking relapse. Increased thalamic volume was detected in smokers relative to nonsmokers, and in relapsers relative to nonrelapsers, especially on the left side. Moreover, decreased left thalamo-precuneus rsFC was detected in relapsers relative to nonrelapsers. Additionally, a logistic regression analysis showed that the thalamic volume and thalamo-precuneus rsFC predicted smoking relapse with an accuracy of 75.7%. These novel findings indicate that increased thalamic volume and decreased thalamo-precuneus rsFC are associated with smoking relapse, and these thalamic measures may be used to predict treatment efficacy of nicotine addiction and serve as a potential biomarker for personalized medicine.

丘脑在大脑中具有最高的烟碱型乙酰胆碱受体（nAChR）密度，在与尼古丁成瘾有关的丘脑-皮质回路中起着核心作用。然而，关于丘脑-皮层回路是否可能预示吸烟复发的知之甚少。在本研究中，共招募了125位参与者（84位寻求治疗的男性吸烟者和41位年龄相匹配的男性非吸烟者）。从所有参与者中获取结构和功能磁共振图像（MRI）。在用伐尼克兰戒烟12周后，将吸烟者分为复发者（n = 54）和非复发者（n = 30）。然后，我们比较了复发者停止治疗前的丘脑容量和基于种子的丘脑-皮质静止状态功能连接性（rsFC），非复发者和非吸烟者调查丘脑结构/功能与吸烟复发之间的关系。相对于非吸烟者，吸烟者和非复发者的丘脑体积增加，尤其是在左侧。此外，相对于非复发者，在复发者中检测到左丘脑早孕rsFC降低。此外，逻辑回归分析表明，丘脑体积和丘脑前部rsFC预测吸烟复发，准确率为75.7％。这些新颖的发现表明，丘脑体积增加和丘脑前胎rsFC降低与吸烟复发有关，并且这些丘脑措施可​​用于预测尼古丁成瘾的治疗效果，并可作为个性化药物的潜在生物标志物。