TY - JOUR A1 - Sebold, Miriam Hannah A1 - Spitta, G. A1 - Gleich, T. A1 - Dembler-Stamm, T. A1 - Butler, Oisin A1 - Zacharias, Kristin A1 - Aydin, S. A1 - Garbusow, Maria A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin A1 - Schubert, Florian A1 - Buchert, Ralph A1 - Gallinat, Jürgen A1 - Heinz, A. T1 - Stressful life events are associated with striatal dopamine receptor availability in alcohol dependence JF - Journal of neural transmission N2 - Stress plays a key role in modulating addictive behavior and can cause relapse following periods of abstinence. Common effects of stress and alcohol on the dopaminergic system have been suggested, although the precise mechanisms are unclear. Here, we investigated 20 detoxified alcohol-dependent patients and 19 matched healthy controls and assessed striatal D2/D3 availability using [F-18]-fallypride positron emission tomography and stressful life events. We found a strong association between striatal D2/D3 availability and stress in patients, but not in healthy controls. Interestingly, we found increased D2/D3 receptor availability in patients with higher stress levels. This mirrors complex interactions between stress and alcohol intake in animal studies and emphasizes the importance to investigate stress exposure in neurobiological studies of addiction. KW - Stressful life events KW - Dopamine D2 KW - D3 receptor KW - Positron emission tomography KW - Striatum KW - Alcohol dependence Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-019-01985-2 SN - 0300-9564 SN - 1435-1463 VL - 126 IS - 9 SP - 1127 EP - 1134 PB - Springer CY - Wien ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gleich, Tobias A1 - Spitta, Gianna A1 - Butler, Oisin A1 - Zacharias, Kristin A1 - Aydin, Semiha A1 - Sebold, Miriam Hannah A1 - Garbusow, Maria A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin A1 - Schubert, Florian A1 - Buchert, Ralph A1 - Heinz, Andreas A1 - Gallinat, Jürgen T1 - Dopamine D2/3 receptor availability in alcohol use disorder and individuals at high risk BT - towards a dimensional approach JF - Addiction Biology N2 - Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is the most common substance use disorder worldwide. Although dopamine-related findings were often observed in AUD, associated neurobiological mechanisms are still poorly understood. Therefore, in the present study, we investigate D2/3 receptor availability in healthy participants, participants at high risk (HR) to develop addiction (not diagnosed with AUD), and AUD patients in a detoxified stage, applying F-18-fallypride positron emission tomography (F-18-PET). Specifically, D2/3 receptor availability was investigated in (1) 19 low-risk (LR) controls, (2) 19 HR participants, and (3) 20 AUD patients after alcohol detoxification. Quality and severity of addiction were assessed with clinical questionnaires and (neuro)psychological tests. PET data were corrected for age of participants and smoking status. In the dorsal striatum, we observed significant reductions of D2/3 receptor availability in AUD patients compared with LR participants. Further, receptor availability in HR participants was observed to be intermediate between LR and AUD groups (linearly decreasing). Still, in direct comparison, no group difference was observed between LR and HR groups or between HR and AUD groups. Further, the score of the Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADS) was inversely correlated with D2/3 receptor availability in the combined sample. Thus, in line with a dimensional approach, striatal D2/3 receptor availability showed a linear decrease from LR participants to HR participants to AUD patients, which was paralleled by clinical measures. Our study shows that a core neurobiological feature in AUD seems to be detectable in an early, subclinical state, allowing more individualized alcohol prevention programs in the future. KW - alcohol KW - D2/3 receptors KW - dependence KW - dopamine KW - high risk KW - PET Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/adb.12915 SN - 1369-1600 VL - 26 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Deserno, Lorenz A1 - Beck, Anne A1 - Huys, Quentin J. M. A1 - Lorenz, Robert C. A1 - Buchert, Ralph A1 - Buchholz, Hans-Georg A1 - Plotkin, Michail A1 - Kumakara, Yoshitaka A1 - Cumming, Paul A1 - Heinze, Hans-Jochen A1 - Grace, Anthony A. A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin A1 - Schlagenhauf, Florian A1 - Heinz, Andreas T1 - Chronic alcohol intake abolishes the relationship between dopamine synthesis capacity and learning signals in the ventral striatum JF - European journal of neuroscience N2 - Drugs of abuse elicit dopamine release in the ventral striatum, possibly biasing dopamine-driven reinforcement learning towards drug-related reward at the expense of non-drug-related reward. Indeed, in alcohol-dependent patients, reactivity in dopaminergic target areas is shifted from non-drug-related stimuli towards drug-related stimuli. Such hijacked' dopamine signals may impair flexible learning from non-drug-related rewards, and thus promote craving for the drug of abuse. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure ventral striatal activation by reward prediction errors (RPEs) during a probabilistic reversal learning task in recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients and healthy controls (N=27). All participants also underwent 6-[F-18]fluoro-DOPA positron emission tomography to assess ventral striatal dopamine synthesis capacity. Neither ventral striatal activation by RPEs nor striatal dopamine synthesis capacity differed between groups. However, ventral striatal coding of RPEs correlated inversely with craving in patients. Furthermore, we found a negative correlation between ventral striatal coding of RPEs and dopamine synthesis capacity in healthy controls, but not in alcohol-dependent patients. Moderator analyses showed that the magnitude of the association between dopamine synthesis capacity and RPE coding depended on the amount of chronic, habitual alcohol intake. Despite the relatively small sample size, a power analysis supports the reported results. Using a multimodal imaging approach, this study suggests that dopaminergic modulation of neural learning signals is disrupted in alcohol dependence in proportion to long-term alcohol intake of patients. Alcohol intake may perpetuate itself by interfering with dopaminergic modulation of neural learning signals in the ventral striatum, thus increasing craving for habitual drug intake. KW - alcohol addiction KW - dopamine KW - fMRI KW - PET KW - prediction error Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.12802 SN - 0953-816X SN - 1460-9568 VL - 41 IS - 4 SP - 477 EP - 486 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER -