Shao Chunhong, Li Yifeng, Jiang Kaida, Zhang Dandan, Xu Yifeng, Lin Ling, Wang Qiuying, Zhao Min, Jin Li
Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai, 200040, China.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2006 Jun;186(2):185-90. doi: 10.1007/s00213-006-0375-6. Epub 2006 Apr 27.
Subjective craving, which contributes to the continuation of drug use in active abuser and the occurrence of relapse in detoxified abusers, is considered to be a central phenomenon in addiction. Dopamine pathway has been implicated in the mechanism underlying the cue-elicited craving for a variety of addictive substances.
The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that heroin addicts carrying D4 dopamine receptor gene (DRD4) variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) long type allele would have higher craving after exposure to a heroin-related cue.
Craving was induced by a series of exposure to neutral and heroin-related cue and were assessed in a cohort of Chinese heroin abusers (n=420) recruited from the Voluntary Drug Dependence Treatment Center at Shanghai.
Significantly stronger cue-elicited heroin craving was found in individuals carrying DRD4 VNTR long type allele than the non-carriers (F=31.040, p<0.001). As for baseline craving and mean change in craving responding to neutral stimuli, no significance was found (1.06+/-0.34 vs 1.07+/-0.36, F=0.067, p=0.797 and 0.42+/-0.34 vs 0.45+/-0.37, F=0.277, p=0.599, respectively).
The results of our study suggest that DRD4 VNTR polymorphism contributes to cue-elicited craving in heroin dependence, indicating DRD4 VNTR represents one of potential genetic risk factors for cue-induced craving.
主观渴望被认为是成瘾的核心现象，它促使正在吸毒的成瘾者持续使用毒品，并导致戒毒后的成瘾者复吸。多巴胺通路被认为与多种成瘾物质提示引发的渴望机制有关。
本研究旨在验证以下假设：携带多巴胺D4受体基因（DRD4）可变数目串联重复序列（VNTR）长型等位基因的海洛因成瘾者在接触海洛因相关提示后会有更高的渴望。
通过一系列接触中性及海洛因相关提示来诱发渴望，并在从上海自愿戒毒治疗中心招募的420名中国海洛因成瘾者队列中进行评估。
携带DRD4 VNTR长型等位基因的个体比非携带者表现出明显更强的提示引发的海洛因渴望（F=31.040，p<0.001）。对于基线渴望以及对中性刺激的渴望反应平均变化，未发现显著差异（分别为1.06±0.34对1.07±0.36，F=0.067，p=0.797；0.42±0.34对0.45±0.37，F=0.277，p=0.599）。
我们的研究结果表明，DRD4 VNTR多态性导致海洛因依赖中提示引发的渴望，这表明DRD4 VNTR是提示诱导渴望的潜在遗传风险因素之一。
