A D2 antagonist enhances the rewarding and priming effects of a gambling episode in pathological gamblers.

Title

A D2 antagonist enhances the rewarding and priming effects of a gambling episode in pathological gamblers.

Creator

Zack M; Poulos CX

Publisher

Neuropsychopharmacology

Date

2007

Subject

Female; Humans; Male; Pain Measurement; Adult; Middle Aged; Semantics; Analysis of Variance; Motivation; Double-Blind Method; IM; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Neuropsychological Tests; Blood Pressure/de [Drug Effects]; Dopamine Antagonists/ad [Administration & Dosage]; Dopamine Antagonists/ae [Adverse Effects]; Gambling/px [Psychology]; Haloperidol/ad [Administration & Dosage]; Haloperidol/ae [Adverse Effects]; Reaction Time/de [Drug Effects]; Reward

Description

Previous research indicated shared neurochemical substrates for gambling and psychostimulant reward. This suggests that dopamine substrates may directly govern the reinforcement process in pathological gambling. To investigate this issue, the present study assessed the effects of the relatively selective dopamine D2 antagonist, haloperidol (3 mg, oral) on responses to actual gambling (15 min on a slot machine) in 20 non-comorbid pathological gamblers and 18 non-gambler controls in a placebo-controlled, double-blind, counterbalanced design. In gamblers, haloperidol significantly increased self-reported rewarding effects of gambling, post-game priming of desire to gamble, facilitation of reading speed to Gambling words, and gambling-induced elevation in blood pressure. In controls, haloperidol augmented gambling-induced elevation in blood pressure, but had no effect on other indices. The findings provide direct experimental evidence that the D2 substrate modulates gambling reinforcement in pathological gamblers.
2007

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Type

Journal Article

Citation List Month

Backlog

Citation

Zack M; Poulos CX, “A D2 antagonist enhances the rewarding and priming effects of a gambling episode in pathological gamblers.,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed March 29, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/14309.