Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22144966›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2011

The dopamine hypothesis of drug addiction and its potential therapeutic value.

Marco Diana

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 114 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
114citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

114 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Dopamine and Temporal Discounting: Revisiting Pharmacology and Individual Differences.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
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  12. Review
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  14. Article
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  17. Novel neurotherapeutic targets for substance use disorders: Neuroplasticity, neuroinflammation, gasotransmitters and non-canonical organ systems.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2025
    Review
  18. Review
  19. Abnormal ventromedial-to-dorsolateral hierarchical topography of striatal circuits in cocaine use disorder and its modulations by brain stimulation.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025
    Article
  20. Dopaminergic Homeostatic Therapy (DHTActa scientific neurology · 2025
    Article

54 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Marco Diana'G. Minardi' Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Drug Sciences, University of Sassari Sassari, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Dopamine (DA) transmission is deeply affected by drugs of abuse, and alterations in DA function are involved in the various phases of drug addiction and potentially exploitable therapeutically. In particular, basic studies have documented a reduction in the electrophysiological activity of DA neurons in alcohol, opiate, cannabinoid, and other drug-dependent rats. Further, DA release in the Nucleus accumbens (Nacc) is decreased in virtually all drug-dependent rodents. In parallel, these studies are supported by increments in intracranial self stimulation (ICSS) thresholds during withdrawal from alcohol, nicotine, opiates, and other drugs of abuse, thereby suggesting a hypofunction of the neural substrate of ICSS. Accordingly, morphological evaluations fed into realistic computational analysis of the medium spiny neuron of the Nacc, post-synaptic counterpart of DA terminals, show profound changes in structure and function of the entire mesolimbic system. In line with these findings, human imaging studies have shown a reduction of dopamine receptors accompanied by a lesser release of endogenous DA in the ventral striatum of cocaine, heroin, and alcohol-dependent subjects, thereby offering visual proof of the "dopamine-impoverished" addicted human brain. The lasting reduction in physiological activity of the DA system leads to the idea that an increment in its activity, to restore pre-drug levels, may yield significant clinical improvements (reduction of craving, relapse, and drug-seeking/taking). In theory, it may be achieved pharmacologically and/or with novel interventions such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Its anatomo-physiological rationale as a possible therapeutic aid in alcoholics and other addicts will be described and proposed as a theoretical framework to be subjected to experimental testing in human addicts.

Indexed as

addictiondopaminedopamine agentsprefrontal cortexrTMSVTA

Identifiers

PMID22144966
PMCPMC3225760

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.