Mesolimbic dopamine release is linked to symptom severity in pathological gambling

: Joutsa J, Johansson J, Niemela S, Ollikainen A, Hirvonen MM, Piepponen P, Arponen E, Alho H, Voon V, Rinne JO, Hietala J, Kaasinen V

Publisher: ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

: 2012

: NeuroImage

: NEUROIMAGE

: 4

: 60

: 4

: 1992

: 1999

: 8

: 1053-8119

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.02.006

Conclusions: Striatal dopamine is released during gambling irrespective of gambling outcome suggesting that the mere expectation/prediction of reward is sufficient to induce dopaminergic changes. Although dopamine release during slot machine gambling is comparable between healthy controls and pathological gamblers, greater gambling symptom severity is associated with greater dopaminergic responses. Thus, as the dopamine reward deficiency theory predicts blunted mesolimbic dopamine responses to gambling in addicted individuals, our results question the validity of the reward deficiency hypothesis in pathological gambling. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.