Convergent evidence from alcohol-dependent humans and rats for a hyperdopaminergic state in protracted abstinence.

ABSTRACT: A major hypothesis in addiction research is that alcohol induces neuroadaptations in the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system and that these neuroadaptations represent a key neurochemical event in compulsive drug use and relapse. Whether these neuroadaptations lead to a hypo- or hyperdopaminergic state during abstinence is a long-standing, unresolved debate among addiction researchers. The answer is of critical importance for understanding the neurobiological mechanism of addictive behavior. Here we set out to study systematically the neuroadaptive changes in the DA system during the addiction cycle in alcohol-dependent patients and rats. In postmortem brain samples from human alcoholics we found a strong down-regulation of the D1 receptor- and DA transporter (DAT)-binding sites, but D2-like re

SUBMITTER: Hirth N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4801269 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature