Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1999 Sep;156(9):1440-3.
doi: 10.1176/ajp.156.9.1440.

Prediction of reinforcing responses to psychostimulants in humans by brain dopamine D2 receptor levels

N D Volkow  1 , G J Wang, J S Fowler, J Logan, S J Gatley, A Gifford, R Hitzemann, Y S Ding, N Pappas
Affiliations

Prediction of reinforcing responses to psychostimulants in humans by brain dopamine D2 receptor levels

N D Volkow et al. Am J Psychiatry. 1999 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: This study assessed whether brain dopamine D2 receptor levels, which show significant intersubject variability, predict reinforcing responses to psychostimulants in humans.

Method: [11C]Raclopride and positron emission tomography were used to measure D2 receptor levels in 23 healthy men (mean age = 34 years, SD = 7) who had no drug abuse histories in order to assess if there were differences between the subjects who liked and those who disliked the effects of intravenous methylphenidate (0.5 mg/kg).

Results: Subjects who liked the effects of methylphenidate had significantly lower D2 receptor levels (mean = 2.72 Bmax/Kd, SD = 0.3) than subjects who disliked its effects (mean = 3.16, SD = 0.3). Moreover, the higher the D2 levels found, the more intense were methylphenidate's unpleasant effects.

Conclusions: These results provide preliminary evidence that D2 receptor levels predict response to psychostimulants in humans and that low D2 receptors may contribute to psychostimulant abuse by favoring pleasant response.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

  • Measuring dopamine D(2) receptors.
    Dagher A. Dagher A. Am J Psychiatry. 2000 Oct;157(10):1708-10. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.157.10.1708. Am J Psychiatry. 2000. PMID: 11007741 No abstract available.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources