ArticlePsychopharmacology2014
History of childhood adversity is positively associated with ventral striatal dopamine responses to amphetamine.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 113 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pharmacological and non-pharmacological modulation of striatal dopamine release: a meta-analysis of [Molecular psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Chronic social stressors and striatal dopamine functioning in humans: A systematic review of SPECT and PET studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Migration and psychosis: a meta-analysis of incidence studies.Psychological medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Impact of childhood adversity on acute subjective effects of stimulant and opioid drugs: Evidence from placebo-controlled studies in healthy volunteers.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Trial
- Subjective response to alcohol: Interactive effects of early life stress, parental risk for mood and substance use disorders, and drinking context.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2023Trial
- Childhood trauma predicts antidepressant response in adults with major depression: data from the randomized international study to predict optimized treatment for depression.Translational psychiatry · 2016Trial
- A protocol for the Teen Bugs study: An integrative, multi-omics approach to understanding the role of the gut microbiome and mesocorticolimbic system in adolescent mental health following early adverse caregiving.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Initial Drug Sensitivity and Vulnerability to Substance Use Disorders: A Review of Individual Influences.Biology · 2026Review
- Dopaminergic frontostriatal pathways in major depressive disorder and childhood sexual abuse: a multimodal neuroimaging investigation.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Temporal dynamic changes in functional connectivity of reward network in depressed adolescents and young adults with and without suicidal attempts.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- The association between cumulative adverse childhood experiences and ultra-processed food addiction is moderated by substance use disorder history among adults seeking outpatient nutrition counseling.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Positive Childhood Experiences are Associated With Alcohol Use in Adolescent and Emerging Adult Females by Adverse Childhood Experiences Dimension.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2024Article
- Dynamic quantitative monitoring of cerebrospinal fluid monoamine neurotransmitter markers during the modeling process of chronic stress-induced depression in monkeys (Macaca mulatta).Brain and behavior · 2024Article
- Sex differences in the relationship between brain gray matter volume and psychological resilience in late adolescence.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2024Article
- Article
- The propensity to sign-track is associated with externalizing behavior and distinct patterns of reward-related brain activation in youth.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Sex/Gender Differences in the Time-Course for the Development of Substance Use Disorder: A Focus on the Telescoping Effect.Pharmacological reviews · 2023Review
- Sex- and exposure age-dependent effects of adolescent stress on ventral tegmental area dopamine system and its afferent regulators.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Article
- Time of exposure to social defeat stress during childhood and adolescence and redox dysregulation on long-lasting behavioral changes, a translational study.Translational psychiatry · 2022Article
- Early life stress and substance use disorders: The critical role of adolescent substance use.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2022Review
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleChildhood exposure to severe or chronic trauma is an important risk factor for the later development of adult mental health problems, such as substance abuse. Even in nonclinical samples of healthy adults, persons with a history of significant childhood adversity seem to experience greater psychological distress than those without this history. Evidence from rodent studies suggests that early life stress may impair dopamine function in ways that increase risks for drug abuse. However, the degree to which these findings translate to other species remains unclear.
objectivesThis study was conducted to examine associations between childhood adversity and dopamine and subjective responses to amphetamine in humans.
methodsFollowing intake assessment, 28 healthy male and female adults, aged 18-29 years, underwent two consecutive 90-min positron emission tomography studies with high specific activity [(11)C]raclopride. The first scan was preceded by intravenous saline; the second by amphetamine (AMPH 0.3 mg/kg).
resultsConsistent with prior literature, findings showed positive associations between childhood trauma and current levels of perceived stress. Moreover, greater number of traumatic events and higher levels of perceived stress were each associated with higher ventral striatal dopamine responses to AMPH. Findings of mediation analyses further showed that a portion of the relationship between childhood trauma and dopamine release may be mediated by perceived stress.
conclusionsOverall, results are consistent with preclinical findings suggesting that early trauma may lead to enhanced sensitivity to psychostimulants and that this mechanism may underlie increased vulnerability for drug abuse.
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Registered trials
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.