Cited by 302Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesSubstance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes

Expectation Enhances the Regional Brain Metabolic and the Reinforcing Effects of Stimulants in Cocaine Abusers

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Volkow, Nora D., Wang, Gene-Jack, Ma, Yemin, Fowler, Joanna S., Zhu, Wei, Maynard, Laurence, Telang, Frank, Vaska, Paul +3 more·2003·The Journal of Neuroscience

Abstract

The reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse result from the complex interaction between pharmacological effects and conditioned responses. Here we evaluate how expectation affects the response to the stimulant drug methylphenidate in 25 cocaine abusers. The effects of methylphenidate (0.5 mg/kg, i.v.) on brain glucose metabolism (measured by [18 F]deoxyglucose-positron emission tomography) and on its reinforcing effects (self-reports of drug effects) were evaluated in four conditions: (1) expecting placebo and receiving placebo; (2) expecting placebo and receiving methylphenidate; (3) expecting methylphenidate and receiving methylphenidate; (4) expecting methylphenidate and receiving placebo. Methylphenidate increased brain glucose metabolism, and the largest changes were in cerebellum, occipital cortex, and thalamus. The increases in metabolism were ∼50% larger when methylphenidate was expected than when it was not, and these differences were significant in cerebellum (vermis) and thalamus. In contrast, unexpected methylphenidate induced greater increases in left lateral orbitofrontal cortex than when it was expected. Methylphenidate-induced increases in self-reports of “high” were also ∼50% greater when subjects expected to receive it than when they did not and were significantly correlated with the metabolic increases in thalamus but not in cerebellum. These findings provide evidence that expectation amplifies the effects of methylphenidate in brain and its reinforcing effects. They also suggest that the thalamus, a region involved with conditioned responses, may mediate the enhancement of the reinforcing effects of methylphenidate by expectation and that the orbitofrontal cortex mediates the response to unexpected reinforcement. The enhanced cerebellar activation with expectation may reflect conditioned responses that are not linked to conscious responses.

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  1. Dirckx, SG, Risinger RC, Ross TJ, Li Z, Li SJ, Stein EA 2003 Comparing iv methylphenidate and cocaine in the human brain using fMRI. 9th Inter- national Conference on Functional Mapping of the Human Brain, New York, June.

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Authors
Volkow, N. D., Wang, G.-J., Ma, Y., Fowler, J. S., Zhu, W., Maynard, L., Telang, F., Vaska, P., Ding, Y.-S., Wong, C., & Swanson, J. M.
Affiliations
State University of New York (US)
Venue
The Journal of Neuroscience
Published
2003-12-10
Volume
23
Issue
36
Pages
11461-11468
ISSN
  • 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
  • 1529-2401
OpenAlex
W1498104517
Cited by
302
References
48
Citations by year
2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 14
FWCI
4.75
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Energy
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA 00280, K20DA000280, DA7092-01)
  • Biological and Environmental Research
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
Keywords
expectations, cocaine abusers, methylphenidate, drug reinforcement, conditioned response, brain glucose metabolism, thalamus, cerebellum, orbitofrontal cortex, stimulants
MeSH terms
Adult, Central Nervous System Stimulants, Brain, Conditioning, Psychological, Female, Glucose, Humans, Male, Methylphenidate, Reinforcement, Psychology, Tomography, Emission-Computed, Cocaine-Related Disorders

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