Nucleus Accumbens D2/3 Receptors Predict Trait Impulsivity and Cocaine Reinforcement

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 315; no. 5816; pp. 1267 - 1270
• Main Authors: Dalley, Jeffrey W., Fryer, Tim D., Brichard, Laurent, Robinson, Emma S. J., Theobald, David E. H., Lääne, Kristjan, Peña, Yolanda, Murphy, Emily R., Shah, Yasmene, Probst, Katrin, Abakumova, Irina, Aigbirhio, Franklin I., Richards, Hugh K., Hong, Young, Baron, Jean-Claude, Everitt, Barry J., Robbins, Trevor W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 02.03.2007; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Addictions; Animals; Basal ganglia; Basal Ganglia - diagnostic imaging; Basal Ganglia - metabolism; Behavioral neuroscience; Benzamides - metabolism; Biochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Cocaine; Cocaine - administration & dosage; Cocaine-Related Disorders - metabolism; Cocaine-Related Disorders - psychology; Corpus Striatum - diagnostic imaging; Corpus Striatum - metabolism; Dopamine - metabolism; Dopamine Antagonists - metabolism; Dopamine Antagonists - pharmacology; Drug addictions; Impulsive Behavior; Male; Medical sciences; Neuropharmacology; Neurosciences; Nucleus accumbens; Nucleus Accumbens - diagnostic imaging; Nucleus Accumbens - metabolism; Personality traits; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Phenotypic traits; Positron emission tomography; Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer..., (alzheimer disease); Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopharmacology; Pyrrolidines - metabolism; Rats; Reaction Time; Receptors; Receptors, Dopamine D2 - metabolism; Receptors, Dopamine D3 - metabolism; Reinforcement, Psychology; Rodents; Self Administration; Synaptic Transmission; Tomography; Toxicology; Dopamine; Intravenous administration; CNS stimulant; Rat; Psychotropic; Rodentia; Central nervous system; Basal ganglion; Self administration; Catecholamine; Encephalon; Nucleus accumbens; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Dysfunction; Animal; Neurotransmitter; Reinforcement; Drug of abuse; Cocaine; Release; Positron; Biological receptor; Emission tomography
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1137073

Stimulant addiction is often linked to excessive risk taking, sensation seeking, and impulsivity, but in ways that are poorly understood. We report here that a form of impulsivity in rats predicts high rates of intravenous cocaine self-administration and is associated with changes in dopamine (DA) function before drug exposure. Using positron emission tomography, we demonstrated that D2/3 receptor availability is significantly reduced in the nucleus accumbens of impulsive rats that were never exposed to cocaine and that such effects are independent of DA release. These data demonstrate that trait impulsivity predicts cocaine reinforcement and that D2 receptor dysfunction in abstinent cocaine addicts may, in part, be determined by premorbid influences.