Further evidence on the relationship between dopamine and novelty seeking: a neuroendocrine study

• Published in: Personality and individual differences Vol. 33; no. 6; pp. 967 - 977
• Main Authors: Hansenne, Michel, Pinto, Emmanuel, Pitchot, William, Reggers, Jean, Scantamburlo, Gabriele, Moor, Marie, Ansseau, Marc
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2002; Elsevier; Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Apomorphine; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Clonidine; Dependency; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Neuroendocrine response; Neurosciences & behavior; Neurosciences & comportement; Neurotransmission and behavior; Novelty seeking; Psychologie sociale, industrielle & organisationnelle; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reward dependence; Rewards; Sciences sociales & comportementales, psychologie; Social & behavioral sciences, psychology; Social, industrial & organizational psychology; TCI; Reward dependence; Clonidine; Novelty seeking; TCI; Apomorphine; Human; Protein hormone; Dopamine; Adenohypophyseal hormone; Somatotropin hormone; Neurotransmitter; Personality; Reward
• ISSN: 0191-8869; 1873-3549; 1873-3549
• DOI: 10.1016/S0191-8869(01)00205-7

In the biosocial model of Cloninger, three major personality dimensions, novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA), and reward dependence (RD) are dependent on central monoaminergic systems, respectively dopaminergic, serotonergic, and noradrenergic. This study investigated the relationships between these major personality dimensions and growth hormone (GH) responses to both apomorphine and clonidine challenge tests in healthy subjects. GH responses to apomorphine were significantly correlated with NS when peak relative values were considered ( r=0.47, P=0.03). HA and RD did not show any relationships with the endocrine responses. In contrast, no significant relationship existed between GH responses to clonidine and any of the three temperament dimensions. These results gave another support of the hypothesized link between NS and dopaminergic central neurotransmission. In contrast, the results did not confirm the association between RD and noradrenergic central neurotransmission, probably because RD is poorly validated. This partial confirmation might suggest that the link between personality traits and neurotransmission systems is probably indirect.