ArticleMolecular psychiatry2014
Stimulant-induced dopamine increases are markedly blunted in active cocaine abusers.
Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 70 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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
70 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 132 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pharmacological and non-pharmacological modulation of striatal dopamine release: a meta-analysis of [Molecular psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Shared gray matter alterations in subtypes of addiction: a voxel-wise meta-analysis.Psychopharmacology · 2021Pooled it
- Association of Stimulant Use With Dopaminergic Alterations in Users of Cocaine, Amphetamine, or Methamphetamine: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA psychiatry · 2017Pooled it
- Abnormal response to methylphenidate across multiple fMRI procedures in cocaine use disorder: feasibility study.Psychopharmacology · 2016Trial
- Trial
- Frontal tDCS reduces alcohol relapse rates by increasing connections from left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to addiction networks.Brain stimulationTrial
- Positive Emotion Regulation in Addiction: A New Frontier for Recovery Science.Current addiction reports · 2026Review
- Neurochemical and Genetic Alterations in Chronic Stimulant (Crystal and Captagon) Users: A Comparative Analysis of Monoamine Biomarkers and Addiction-Related Gene Expression.Biochemistry research international · 2026Article
- PKD1-mediated phosphorylation at dopamine D2 receptor serine 365 site in dorsal striatum underlies cocaine-induced locomotor hyperactivity.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2025Article
- Cocaine Cues Used in Experimental Research: A Systematic Review.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Pharmacotherapies for stimulant use disorder and co-occurring attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: protocol for a systematic review and a meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Review of cocaine-induced brain vascular and cellular function changes measuredNeurophotonics · 2025Review
- The Limbic System in Co-Occurring Substance Use and Anxiety Disorders: A Narrative Review Using the RDoC Framework.Brain sciences · 2024Review
- Association of Neuromelanin-Sensitive MRI Signal With Lifetime Substance Use in Young Women.The American journal of psychiatry · 2024Article
- A shared spatial topography links the functional connectome correlates of cocaine use disorder and dopamine DCommunications biology · 2024Article
- Chronic Cocaine Use and Parkinson's Disease: An Interpretative Model.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Article
- Neurovascular effects of cocaine: relevance to addiction.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Review
- Repeated chemogenetic activation of dopaminergic neurons induces reversible changes in baseline and amphetamine-induced behaviors.Psychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Neural circuit selective for fast but not slow dopamine increases in drug reward.Nature communications · 2023Article
10 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
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Dopamine signaling in nucleus accumbens is essential for cocaine reward. Interestingly, imaging studies have reported blunted dopamine increases in striatum (assessed as reduced binding of [(11)C]raclopride to D2/D3 receptors) in detoxified cocaine abusers. Here, we evaluate whether the blunted dopamine response reflected the effects of detoxification and the lack of cocaine-cues during stimulant exposure. For this purpose we studied 62 participants (43 non-detoxified cocaine abusers and 19 controls) using positron emission tomography and [(11)C]raclopride (radioligand sensitive to endogenous dopamine) to measure dopamine increases induced by intravenous methylphenidate and in 24 of the cocaine abusers, we also compared dopamine increases when methylphenidate was administered concomitantly with a cocaine cue-video versus a neutral-video. In controls, methylphenidate increased dopamine in dorsal (effect size 1.4; P<0.001) and ventral striatum (location of accumbens) (effect size 0.89; P<0.001), but in cocaine abusers methylphenidate's effects did not differ from placebo and were similar whether cocaine-cues were present or not. In cocaine abusers despite the markedly attenuated dopaminergic effects, the methylphenidate-induced changes in ventral striatum were associated with intense drug craving. Our findings are consistent with markedly reduced signaling through D2 receptors during intoxication in active cocaine abusers regardless of cues exposure, which might contribute to compulsive drug use.
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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.