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The Dopamine System in Mediating Alcohol Effects in Humans

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Book cover Behavioral Neurobiology of Alcohol Addiction

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences ((CTBN,volume 13))

Abstract

Recent brain–imaging studies revealed that the development and maintenance of alcohol dependence is determined by a complex interaction of different neurotransmitter systems and multiple psychological factors. In this context, the dopaminergic reinforcement system appears to be of fundamental importance. We focus on the excitatory and depressant effects of acute versus chronic alcohol intake and its impact on dopaminergic neurotransmission. Furthermore, we describe alterations in dopaminergic neurotransmission as associated with symptoms of alcohol dependence. We specifically focus on neuroadaptations to chronic alcohol consumption and their effect on central processing of alcohol-associated and reward-related stimuli. Dysfunctional reward processing, impaired reinforcement learning and increased salience attribution to alcohol-associated stimuli enable alcohol cues to drive alcohol seeking and consumption. Finally, we will discuss how the neurobiological and neurochemical mechanisms of alcohol-associated alterations in reward processing and learning can interact with personality traits, cognition and emotion processing.

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Abbreviations

5-HT:

Serotonin

ACC:

Anterior cingulate cortex

AMPA:

α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid receptors

BAC:

Blood alcohol concentration

BOLD:

Blood oxygen level dependent response

CNS:

Central nervous system

CS:

Pavlovian conditioned stimulus

DA:

Dopamine

DLPFC:

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

DRD1:

Dopamine D1 receptor

DRD2:

Dopamine D2 receptor

DRD3:

Dopamine D3 receptor

DTI:

Diffusion tensor imaging

EEG:

Electroencephalography

EtOH:

Ethanol

fMRI:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging

F-DOPA:

[18F]Fluoro-L-dopa

GABA:

Gamma-aminobutyric acid

HA:

Harm Avoidance

IAPS:

International Affective Picture System

LTP:

Long-term potentiation

MPFC:

Medial prefrontal cortex

NAc:

Nucleus accumbens

NMDA:

N-methyl-D-aspartate

NS:

Novelty Seeking

OFC:

Orbitofrontal cortex

PET:

Positron emission tomography

PFC:

Prefrontal cortex

SPECT:

Single photon emission computed tomography

SPM:

Statistical Parametric Mapping

SSRI:

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors

T1:

T1-Weighted magnetic resonance sequence

TPQ:

Cloningers Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (Cloninger 1987b)

VTA:

Ventral tegmental area

WM:

Working memory

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; HE 2597/4-3; 7-3; EXC257), by the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin (BMBF grant 01GQ0411) and NGFN (BMBF grant 01GS08159).

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  1. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, Berlin, Germany

    K. Charlet, A. Beck & A. Heinz

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  1. Abt. Psychopharmakologie, Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit, J 5, Mannheim, 68159, Germany

    Wolfgang H. Sommer

  2. Abt. Psychopharmakologie, Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit, J 5, Mannheim, 68159, Germany

    Rainer Spanagel

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Charlet, K., Beck, A., Heinz, A. (2011). The Dopamine System in Mediating Alcohol Effects in Humans. In: Sommer, W., Spanagel, R. (eds) Behavioral Neurobiology of Alcohol Addiction. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, vol 13. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28720-6_130

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