The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

The WAGER, 8(39) - Biology, Addiction, and Gambling: Cocaine Abstinence and Gambling

As discussed in WAGER 7(43), research suggests that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VmPFC) area of the brain might be involved in decision-making mechanisms that affect gambling behavior. Using a gambling task designed by Bechara et al. (1994), several studies have shown that subjects with impaired VmPFC function due to brain lesions demonstrate impaired judgment in gambling situations (Bechara et al., 1994; Bechara, Damasio, Tranel, & Anderson, 1998). Research has shown that drug abusers can exhibit similar deficiencies (Bolla et al., 2003). Using the Bechara gambling task, Bartzokis et al. (2000) compared abstinent cocaine dependent (CD) subjects with non-abstinent CD subjects... Read more →

The WAGER, 8(38) - Biology, Addiction, and Gambling: Dopamine’s Many Roles

The neurotransmitter dopamine is a key player in the brain’s reward pathway. When the brain recognizes a rewarding behavior, it releases dopamine (Spanagel & Weiss, 1999). In the past, researchers have only been able to measure the presence of dopamine on a minute-to-minute scale. Researchers have not been able to detect and measure quick pulses of neurotransmitters that might be responsible for activating or blocking pathways. Recent technical advances now allow sub-second measurements of dopamine levels in the brain. Phillips et al. (2003) employed this new technology to more precisely detect brief pulses of dopamine in rats seeking cocaine. As... Read more →

The WAGER, 8(37) - Biology, Addiction, and Gambling: The Role of Rodent Relapse

Relapse represents one of the major hurdles in the long-term treatment of addictive disorders. In addition to behavioral therapies, pharmacotherapy is proving to be a valuable component in relapse prevention. Whereas the study of rats has provided valuable insight into possible causes of addiction in humans (see WAGERs 8(35) and 8(36)), the study of pharmacological treatment of alcohol and drug relapse behaviors in rats has also yielded possible parallels with human relapse behaviors. This week The WAGER presents an article by Le and Shaham (2002) that reviewed research on neurobiological and pharmacological aspects of alcohol relapse in rats. Le and... Read more →

The WAGER, 8(36) - Biology, Addiction, and Gambling: What We Can Learn from the Rat Race

As noted in previous issues of The WAGER (8(30) – 8(35)), most drugs associated with addiction affect the release and regulation of dopamine in the brain’s “reward system” – a set of neural pathways involved in the experience of pleasure. Past research has focused on chemical objects of addiction, but evidence is emerging to imply that behavioral objects of addiction (e.g., shopping, gambling, etc.) might hold similar sway over the reward system (Betz, Mihalic, Pinto, & Raffa, 2000; Blum et al., 2000; Breiter, Aharon, Kahneman, Dale, & Shizgal, 2001; Potenza, 2001). This suggests that seemingly disparate patterns of addiction, such... Read more →