A Brain Imaging Study Into Nicotine Induced Dopamine Release in Cigarette Smokers.
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
2012-07-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Dopamine (DA) plays a critical role in nicotine (and other) addiction and this drug is known
to release DA in brain areas mediating reward and motivational processes. Although imaging
studies show that release of DA follows smoking, little is known regarding how common genetic
polymorphisms for three genes associated in some studies with smoking (dopamine D2 receptor,
dopamine and serotonin transporter) interact with smoking status and modulate individual
differences in nicotine-induced DA release and dopamine receptor occupancy, in vivo. The
current proposal combines brain imaging and genomics ('imaging genomics') towards partially
unraveling the complex relationship between smoking phenotype and common polymorphisms.
Understanding whether genetic factors contribute to inter-individual variability in smoking
is crucial for interpreting imaging results in the context of disease pathology. We
hypothesize that a model of vulnerability to addiction based on interactions between
genotype, receptor and transporter availability and in vivo nicotine-induced DA release will
elucidate some of the fundamental neurochemical and neurogenetic circuits underlying
addiction.