Changes in Functional Brain Connectivity Highlight the Importance of a Baseline Measurement and Multiple Imaging Sessions for Cocaine Abstinence Studies

3D functional connectivity maps of the rat brain illustrating significant effects of sucrose or cocaine self-administration and abstinence. A, Timeline of fMRIs with respect to exposure and abstinence periods. B–D, 3D connectomic maps showing qualitative changes in functional connectivity during imaging sessions in response to chamber exposure, a control condition (B), sucrose self-administration (C), or cocaine self-administration (D). Spheres represent node strength and line thicknesses represent edge weights. (Adapted from Figures 1 and 4 in Orsini et al., 2018.)