A Brain Imaging Study Into Nicotine Induced Dopamine Release in Cigarette Smokers.

Dopamine (DA) plays a critical role in nicotine (and other) addiction and this drug is known to release DA in brain areas mediating reward and motivational processes. Although imaging studies show that release of DA follows smoking, little is known regarding how common genetic polymorphisms for three genes associated in some studies with smoking (dopamine D2 receptor, dopamine and serotonin transporter) interact with smoking status and modulate individual differences in nicotine-induced DA release and dopamine receptor occupancy, in vivo. The current proposal combines brain imaging and genomics ('imaging genomics') towards partially unraveling the complex relationship between smoking phenotype and common polymorphisms. Understanding whether genetic factors contribute to inter-individual variability in smoking is crucial for interpreting imaging results in the context of disease pathology. We hypothesize that a model of vulnerability to addiction based on interactions between genotype, receptor and transporter availability and in vivo nicotine-induced DA release will elucidate some of the fundamental neurochemical and neurogenetic circuits underlying addiction.