Differential Striatal Dopamine Responses Following Oral Alcohol in Individuals at Varying Risk for Dependence. (6th August 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Setiawan, Elaine; Pihl, Robert O.; Dagher, Alain; Schlagintweit, Hera; Casey, Kevin F.; Benkelfat, Chawki; Leyton, Marco
• Is Part Of: Alcoholism. Volume 38:Number 1(2014:Jan.)
• Page Start: 126
• Page End: 134
• Publication Date: 2013-08-06
• Subjects: Alcoholism -- Periodicals; Alcoholism -- Periodicals; Alcoolisme; Electronic journals; Périodique électronique (Descripteur de forme); Ressource Internet (Descripteur de forme); 616.861005
• DOI: 10.1111/acer.12218
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0145-6008

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="acer12218-abs-0001"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="acer12218-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Background</title> <p>The neurobiology of risk for alcohol use disorders (AUDs) remains poorly understood. Individual differences in vulnerability, though, have been indicated by subjective responses to alcohol ingestion and personality traits.</p> </sec> <sec id="acer12218-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>To investigate the relationship between these features and striatal dopamine (DA) responses to alcohol, we studied 26 healthy young social drinkers (21.3 ± 3.0 years old; 10.7 ± 8.8 drinks/wk) at varying risk for alcoholism. Each participant received 2 positron emission tomography [<sup>11</sup>C]raclopride scans after administration of either placebo or oral alcohol (1 ml/kg body weight of 94% alcohol, 0.75 g/kg) in a randomized and counterbalanced design.</p> </sec> <sec id="acer12218-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Subjects with high‐risk subjective responses to alcohol had more family members with AUDs, greater alcohol use problems, and, in response to the alcohol challenge, significant decreases in [<sup>11</sup>C]raclopride binding indicative of increased extracellular DA. In contrast, low‐risk subjects exhibited increases in [<sup>11</sup>C]raclopride binding in response to alcohol. The results were similar when risk groups were based on personality traits, although statistically less robust.</p> </sec> <sec id="acer12218-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Changes in striatal DA in response to alcohol ingestion may be a neurobiological marker of vulnerability to AUDs.</p> </sec> </abstract>