[Serotonergic activity and harm avoidance in abstinent drug addicts].
BACKGROUND
The present study was to assess the relationship between the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire scores and the 5-HT activity in abstinent drug addicts.


METHODS
16 men who satisfied the DSM-III-R/DSM-IV criteria for substance abuse disorder accomplished the Cloninger's Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire; their serotonergic activity was measured using the Fenfluramine Challenge Test.


RESULTS
The Novelty Seeking is the only dimension showing a statistical difference versus a standard healthy sample, while harm avoidance and not the other dimensions was significantly correlated with the prolactin post-fenfluramine peak (r= 0.80, p<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
This work confirm that drug addicts are high Novelty Seekers and support the hypothesis that Harm Avoidance dimension correlate with serotonergic activity.
Gómez-Perretta De Mateo
C
C
Centro de Investigación, Hospital Universitario La Fe, Valencia, Spain. gomez_cla@gva.es
Portolés Sanz
M
M
Pérez Díaz
M I
MI
Gómez-Perretta De Mateo
M L
ML
Salom Serra
R
R
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005277:Fenfluramine / Q000494:pharmacology; D040261:Harm Reduction; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011388:Prolactin / Q000378:metabolism; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism*; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism*
D005277:Fenfluramine; D011388:Prolactin; D012701:Serotonin; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors