Cocaine Cues and Dopamine in Dorsal Striatum: Mechanism of Craving in Cocaine Addiction

The ability of drugs of abuse to increase dopamine in nucleus accumbens underlies their reinforcing effects. However, preclinical studies have shown that with repeated drug exposure neutral stimuli paired with the drug (conditioned stimuli) start to increase dopamine by themselves, which is an effect that could underlie drug-seeking behavior. Here we test whether dopamine increases occur to conditioned stimuli in human subjects addicted to cocaine and whether this is associated with drug craving. We tested eighteen cocaine-addicted subjects using positron emission tomography and [11C]raclopride (dopamine D2 receptor radioligand sensitive to competition with endogenous dopamine). We measured changes in dopamine…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Awards: 76CH00016, DE-AC01-76CH00016
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Award: DE-AC01-76CH00016