This slide describes some of the evidence of the importance of dopamine in predicting the development and course of addiction.[2,3] However, these experiments hint at the complexity of studying addiction; do low levels of dopamine predict vulnerability, or did the high-risk individuals who did not develop addiction not do so because they experienced lower levels of dopamine release?[1]
References:
[1] Nutt DJ, Lingford-Hughes A, Erritzoe D, Stokes PR. The dopamine theory of addiction: 40 years of highs and lows. Nat Rev Neurosci 2015; 16 (5): 305–312.
[2] Martinez D, Carpenter KM, Liu F, et al. Imaging dopamine transmission in cocaine dependence: link between neurochemistry and response to treatment. Am J Psychiatry 2011; 168 (6): 634–641.
[3] Casey KF, Benkelfat C, Cherkasova MV, et al. Reduced dopamine response to amphetamine in subjects at ultra-high risk for addiction. Biol Psychiatry 2014; 76 (1): 23–30.
