Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40434828›Full record

ArticleJournal of behavioral addictions2025

Striatal cue-reactivity and neurotransmitter function in gambling disorder.

Albert Bellmunt-Gil, Joonas Majuri, Lauri Nummenmaa, Semi Helin, Sarita Forsback, Johan Rajander, Valtteri Kaasinen, Juho Joutsa

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Article in Journal of behavioral addictions, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Albert Bellmunt-Gil1Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID 0009-0002-5874-5155
Joonas Majuri1Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID 0000-0001-9144-2653
Lauri Nummenmaa3Turku PET Centre, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.ORCID 0000-0002-2497-9757
Semi Helin5Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry Laboratory, Turku PET Centre, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID 0000-0002-9405-7301
Sarita Forsback5Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry Laboratory, Turku PET Centre, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID 0000-0002-6286-7895
Johan Rajander6Accelerator Laboratory, Turku PET Centre, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland.ORCID 0000-0003-3591-0963
Valtteri Kaasinen2Clinical Neurosciences, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID 0000-0002-3446-7093
Juho Joutsa1Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID 0000-0002-3457-9415

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Abnormal striatal cue reactivity is one of the neurobiological hallmarks of substance use disorders (SUDs). Cue reactivity is associated with relapse, prompting efforts to target its underlying mechanisms with therapeutic interventions. However, the neural correlates of cue reactivity in behavioral addictions, such as gambling disorder (GD), remain poorly understood. Here we investigated striatal cue reactivity and its associations with neurotransmitters in individuals with GD using multimodal neuroimaging. Methods: Thirteen subjects with GD and 16 healthy controls (HC) underwent fMRI using a block-design consisting of three different types of visual stimuli: gambling-related, erotic, and neutral videos. The subjects also underwent brain PET imaging with three radiotracers to assess dopamine ([18F]FDOPA), opioid ([11C]carfentanil) and serotonin ([11C]MADAM) function. Results: GD subjects showed a significantly greater BOLD response in the dorsal striatum compared to HC when viewing gambling-related versus neutral videos (pFWE<0.05). Enhanced cue-reactivity was specific to gambling, as there were no significant differences between the groups with natural reward cues (erotic vs. neutral videos). The dorsal and ventral striatum BOLD responses to gambling videos were coupled in HC (r = 0.7, p = 0.003) but not in GD (r = -0.1, p = 0.75; group difference p = 0.008). In GD, dorsal striatal BOLD response to gambling cues correlated with [11C]carfentanil, but not with [18F]FDOPA or [11C]MADAM, binding (r = 0.8, p < 0.001). Conclusions: GD is characterized by increased gambling cue-induced activity in the dorsal striatum, which is linked to mu-opioid receptor availability. The findings highlight the potential role of the mu-opioid system in mediating cue-reactivity in behavioral addictions.

Indexed as

Corpus StriatumCuesGamblingAdultDopamineFemaleFentanylHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMiddle AgedPositron-Emission TomographySerotoninVentral StriatumYoung AdultcarfentanilDopamineFentanylSerotonincue reactivitygambling disorderopioid systemstriatum

Identifiers

PMID40434828
PMCPMC12231433

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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.