Dopamine and opioid systems adaptation in alcoholism revisited: Convergent evidence from positron emission tomography and postmortem studies.

摘要: Abstract A major hypothesis in the addiction field suggests deficits dopamine signaling during abstinence as a driving mechanism for relapsing course of disorder. Paradoxically, blockade mu-opioid receptors (MORs) intended to suppress release and alcohol reward is widely used treatment preventing relapse use disorder (AUD). To elucidate this apparent discrepancy, we systematically survey literature on experimental studies AUD subjects animal models, which assessed striatal levels D1, D2-like receptor, transporter MOR via positron emission tomography (PET) ex vivo receptor binding assays. The reported evidence indicates changing dopaminergic over time, associated with concomitant alterations MOR, thus suggesting highly dynamic regulation system abstinence. Such view can reconcile various evidences from postmortem studies, but makes developing an effective pharmacological intervention that specifically targets either or daunting task.