title: Reduced Dopamine Transporter Availability and Neurocognitive Deficits in Male Patients with Alcohol Dependence.
abstract: Dopamine plays an important role in the development of alcohol dependence, cognitive dysfunction, and is regulated via dopamine transporter activity. Although dopamine transporter activity is critically involved in alcohol dependence, studies observing this relationship are limited. Thus the current study examined whether dopamine transporter availability is associated with developing of alcohol dependence and cognitive dysfunction. Brain imaging with 99mTc-TRODAT-1 as a ligand was used to measure dopamine transporter availability among 26 male patients with pure alcohol dependence and 22 age- and sex- matched healthy volunteers. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) were administered to assess neurocognitive functioning and personality traits, respectively. Compared to healthy controls, patients with alcohol dependence showed a significant reduction in dopamine transporter availability (p < 0.001), as well as diminished performance on the WCST (p < 0.001). Dopamine transporter availability was negatively correlated with both total and perseverative WCST errors among healthy controls, but only patients with alcohol dependence showed a positive correlation between dopamine transporter availability and a harm avoidance personality profile. Thus, reductions in dopamine transporter availability may play a pathophysiological role in the development of pure alcohol dependence, given its association with neurocognitive deficits. Moreover, personality may influence the development of pure alcohol dependence; however, additional clinical subgroups should be examined to confirm this possibility.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Neurology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Che-Hung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Yi-Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Psychiatry, Beitou Branch, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Chih-Sung
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Beitou Branch, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Pei-Shen
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Shin-Chang
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Branch, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Chang-Chih
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Chun-Yen
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Mei-Chen
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.affiliation: Department of anatomy and biology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Kuo-Hsing
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Giia-Sheun
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavior Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Ru-Band
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: San-Yuan
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000378:metabolism*; D003710:Demography; D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds / Q000378:metabolism; D012907:Smoking; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014326:Tropanes / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D014326:Tropanes; C104196:technetium Tc 99m TRODAT-1