Stress-induced dopamine release in human medial prefrontal cortex--18F-fallypride/PET study in healthy volunteers.

Background: In laboratory animals, environmental stressors markedly activate the mesocortical dopamine system. The present study tested whether this occurs in humans.

Methods: The effects of a laboratory psychological stressor (Montreal Imaging Stress Task, MIST) on mesocortical dopamine release in healthy young adults (11 males, mean age ± SD, 20.

Conditioned dopamine release in humans: a positron emission tomography [11C]raclopride study with amphetamine.

Studies in laboratory rodents suggest that previously neutral stimuli repeatedly paired with the administration of drugs of abuse can acquire the ability to increase striatal dopamine release. This conditioned neurochemical response is believed to prompt drug seeking in animals and has been hypothesized to contribute to drug craving and relapse in substance abusers. In the present study, we used positron emission tomography and [11C]raclopride to investigate whether amphetamine-predictive stimuli can elicit striatal dopamine release in humans.