Pharmacokinetics trumps pharmacodynamics during cocaine choice: a reconciliation with the dopamine hypothesis of addiction.

ABSTRACT: Cocaine is known to increase brain dopamine at supranormal levels in comparison to alternative nondrug rewards. According to the dopamine hypothesis of addiction, this abnormally large dopamine response would explain why cocaine use is initially highly rewarding and addictive. Though resting on solid neuroscientific foundations, this hypothesis has nevertheless proven difficult to reconcile with research on cocaine choice in experimental animals. When facing a choice between an intravenous bolus of cocaine and a nondrug alternative (e.g., sweet water), both delivered immediately after choice, rats do not choose the drug, as would be predicted, but instead develop a strong preference for the nondrug alternative. Here we report evidence that reconciles this finding with the dopamine hypothes

SUBMITTER: Canchy L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7853096 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature