Dopamine and addiction: what have we learned from 40 years of research

Solinas M(1), Belujon P(2), Fernagut PO(2), Jaber M(2)(3), Thiriet N(2).

Author information:
(1)Université de Poitiers, INSERM, U-1084, Laboratoire de Neurosciences
Expérimentales et Cliniques, Poitiers, France.
.
(2)Université de Poitiers, INSERM, U-1084, Laboratoire de Neurosciences
Expérimentales et Cliniques, Poitiers, France.
(3)CHU de Poitiers, Poitiers, France.

Among the neurotransmitters involved in addiction, dopamine (DA) is clearly the
best known. The critical role of DA in addiction is supported by converging
evidence that has been accumulated in the last 40 years. In the present review,
first we describe the dopaminergic system in terms of connectivity, functioning
and involvement in reward processes. Second, we describe the functional,
structural, and molecular changes induced by drugs within the DA system in terms
of neuronal activity, synaptic plasticity and transcriptional and molecular
adaptations. Third, we describe how genetic mouse models have helped
characterizing the role of DA in addiction. Fourth, we describe the involvement
of the DA system in the vulnerability to addiction and the interesting case of
addiction DA replacement therapy in Parkinson’s disease. Finally, we describe
how the DA system has been targeted to treat patients suffering from addiction
and the result obtained in clinical settings and we discuss how these different
lines of evidence have been instrumental in shaping our understanding of the
physiopathology of drug addiction.

DOI: 10.1007/s00702-018-1957-2
PMID: 30569209 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

Auteurs Bordeaux Neurocampus