Elevated Central Serotonin Transporter Binding Availability in Acutely Abstinent Cocaine-Dependent Patients

• Published in: The American journal of psychiatry Vol. 157; no. 7; pp. 1134 - 1140
• Main Authors: Jacobsen, Leslie K., Staley, Julie K., Malison, Robert T., Zoghbi, Sami S., Seibyl, John P., Kosten, Thomas R., Innis, Robert B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychiatric Publishing 01.07.2000; American Psychiatric Association
• Subjects: Addictions; Addictive behaviors; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age Factors; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - metabolism; Brain - physiopathology; Brain Stem - diagnostic imaging; Brain Stem - metabolism; Brain Stem - physiopathology; Carrier Proteins - metabolism; Carrier Proteins - physiology; Cocaine; Cocaine - analogs & derivatives; Cocaine-Related Disorders - diagnostic imaging; Cocaine-Related Disorders - metabolism; Cocaine-Related Disorders - physiopathology; Diencephalon - diagnostic imaging; Diencephalon - metabolism; Dopamine - metabolism; Dopamine - physiology; Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; Drug addiction; Female; Humans; Iodine Radioisotopes; Male; Medical sciences; Membrane Glycoproteins - metabolism; Membrane Glycoproteins - physiology; Membrane Transport Proteins; Nerve Tissue Proteins; Neurotransmitters; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Recurrence; Risk Factors; Serotonin - metabolism; Serotonin - physiology; Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Substance abuse treatment; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon - statistics & numerical data; Treatment Outcome; Radionuclide study; Senescence; Serotoninergic transmission; Central nervous system; Ester; Dependence; Adult; Withdrawal syndrome; Age; Human; Mood disorder; Drug addiction; Pathophysiology; Illicit drug; Acute; Depression; Photon; Abstinence; Symptomatology; Biological fixation; Young adult; Cocaine; Clinical investigation; Brain (vertebrata); Emission tomography
• ISSN: 0002-953X; 1535-7228
• DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.157.7.1134

OBJECTIVE: Recent work has underscored the role of serotonergic neurotransmission in chronic neural adaptations to cocaine dependence. The authors tested for evidence of serotonergic dysfunction during acute abstinence from cocaine, a period of high risk for relapse in cocaine dependence.METHOD: Binding availability of dopamine transporters and serotonin transporters was measured in 15 cocaine-dependent subjects during acute abstinence and in 37 healthy comparison subjects by using [123I]β-CIT and single photon emission computed tomography.RESULTS: Significant increases in diencephalic and brainstem serotonin transporter binding (16.7% and 31.6%, respectively) were observed in cocaine-dependent subjects. Brainstem serotonin transporter binding was significantly inversely correlated with age across diagnostic groups.CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide further evidence of serotonergic dysfunction during acute abstinence from chronic cocaine use. Age-related decline in brainstem serotonin transporter binding may underlie the poor response to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants seen in some elderly depressed patients.