Dopamine release in ventral striatum during Iowa Gambling Task performance is associated with increased excitement levels in pathological gambling

Abstract

In pathological gamblers dopamine release in the ventral striatum appears to be associated with increased excitement levels despite lower IGT performance. The results might suggest a 'double deficit' function of dopamine in pathological gambling, where dopamine release reinforces maladaptive gambling through increasing excitement levels, reducing inhibition of risky decisions, or a combination of both. These findings may have implications for the understanding of dopamine in pathological gambling and other forms of addiction.

Pathological Choice: The Neuroscience of Gambling and Gambling Addiction

“…The change in [ (Linnet et al, 2011) and gambling severity (Joutsa et al, 2012). Notably, the available data in drug addiction show blunted dopamine release in response to psychostimulant administration (Volkow et al, 1997;Martinez et al, 2007). The extent to which these discrepancies reflect etiological differences between substance and behavioral addictions, or the masking of incentive sensitization processes via drug-induced depletion of dopamine stores (Robinson and Berridge, 2003), is a key question in ongoing research.…”

“…The change in [ (Linnet et al, 2011) and gambling severity (Joutsa et al, 2012). Notably, the available data in drug addiction show blunted dopamine release in response to psychostimulant administration (Volkow et al, 1997;Martinez et al, 2007).…”

“…Building upon evidence for robust reductions in striatal dopamine D 2/3 receptor availability in substance users dependent on a number of distinct drugs (Martinez et al, 2004;Fehr et al, 2008), recent studies have used this ligand in pathological gamblers (Linnet et al, 2011;Joutsa et al, 2012;Boileau et al, 2013). Notably, none of these studies has detected a significant group difference in dopamine D 2/3 binding, although some individual differences have been observed, for example, against trait impulsivity .…”

Addiction aux jeux d’argent

“…Ce résultat a été interprété dans le cadre de la théorie hypodopaminergique de l'addiction ; selon cette théorie, une sous-stimulation du système dopaminergique diminuerait la sensibilité aux récompenses (d'où le nom de la théorie : reward deficiency syndrome) et engendrerait une consommation abusive de drogues afin de compenser ce déficit [14]. Cependant, les récentes études de TEP menées sur le jeu pathologique n'ont pas permis de valider cette hypothèse dans le cadre de l'addiction aux jeux d'argent [3,[15][16][17]. À l'inverse, une étude récente a montré une libération accrue de dopamine chez les joueurs à la suite d'une stimulation pharmacologique [18].…”

Towards a Better Understanding of Disordered Gambling: Efficacy of Animal Paradigms in Modelling Aspects of Gambling Behaviour

“…Considering different gambling behaviours as potentially subject to independent expression and regulation, rather than assuming a universal 'pro-gambling' phenotype from the outset, may be more appropriate when trying to elucidate risk factors for disorders like GD in which the etiology is complex and likely multifactorial; moreover, such an approach is in-line with emerging diagnostic frameworks [15,16]. To this end, we will focus here on three cognitive domains within which gamblers exhibit dysfunction, namely in regard to increased impulsivity [17][18][19][20][21][22], disadvantageous cost/benefit decision making [23][24][25] and increased endorsement of irrational beliefs or cognitive biases pertaining to gambling [22,26,27]. Although these three areas represent a broad swathe of behaviours, each is not only subjectively but objectively quantifiable, making it possible to design appropriate paradigms for use in non-humans subjects.…”