Dopamine-Related Deficit in Reward Learning After Catecholamine Depletion in Unmedicated, Remitted Subjects with Bulimia Nervosa

• Published in: Neuropsychopharmacology (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 37; no. 8; pp. 1945 - 1952
• Main Authors: Grob, Simona, Pizzagalli, Diego A, Dutra, Sunny J, Stern, Jair, Mörgeli, Hanspeter, Milos, Gabriella, Schnyder, Ulrich, Hasler, Gregor
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basingstoke Nature Publishing Group 01.07.2012
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; alpha-Methyltyrosine - pharmacology; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Body mass index; Brain; Bulimia; Bulimia nervosa; Bulimia Nervosa - blood; Bulimia Nervosa - metabolism; Bulimia Nervosa - psychology; Catecholamines; Catecholamines - deficiency; Conditioning, Operant - drug effects; diphenhydramine; Discrimination (Psychology) - drug effects; Dopamine; Dopamine - deficiency; Double-Blind Method; Eating behavior disorders; Eating disorders; Female; Humans; Learning; Medical sciences; Neurotransmitters; Original; Prolactin - blood; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales - statistics & numerical data; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychomotor Performance - drug effects; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychotherapy; Reaction Time - drug effects; Reinforcement; Reward; Suicides & suicide attempts; United States > US; Switzerland; Bulimia; Human; remitted bulimia nervosa; Dopamine; Depletion; Reinforcement learning; Neurotransmitter; Norepinephrine; Reward; Eating disorder; Catecholamine
• ISSN: 0893-133X; 1740-634X; 1740-634X
• DOI: 10.1038/npp.2012.41

Disturbances in reward processing have been implicated in bulimia nervosa (BN). Abnormalities in processing reward-related stimuli might be linked to dysfunctions of the catecholaminergic neurotransmitter system, but findings have been inconclusive. A powerful way to investigate the relationship bet...