Mu-opioid receptor binding measured by [ 11C]carfentanil positron emission tomography is related to craving and mood in alcohol dependence

• Published in: Biological psychiatry (1969) Vol. 55; no. 3; pp. 255 - 262
• Main Authors: Bencherif, Badreddine, Wand, Gary S, McCaul, Mary E, Kim, Yu Kyeong, Ilgin, Nese, Dannals, Robert F, Frost, James J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01-02-2004; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Addictive behaviors; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Affect; Alcoholism; Alcoholism - metabolism; Alcoholism - psychology; Analgesics, Opioid - metabolism; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - metabolism; Carbon Radioisotopes; Case-Control Studies; craving; depression; Fentanyl - analogs & derivatives; Fentanyl - metabolism; Frontal Lobe - metabolism; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Mu opioid receptors; Neurotransmission and behavior; Parietal Lobe - metabolism; PET imaging; Prefrontal Cortex - metabolism; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Receptors, Opioid, mu - metabolism; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome - metabolism; Tomography, Emission-Computed; Mu opioid receptors; craving; depression; alcoholism; PET imaging; Human; Mood; Investigation method; Addiction; Alcoholism; Craving; μ Opioid receptor; Emission tomography
• ISSN: 0006-3223; 1873-2402
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2003.07.007

The endogenous opioid system has been linked to alcohol dependence through animal and human studies. We investigated the relationship between alcohol craving and brain mu opioid receptors (μ-OR) in alcohol-dependent subjects.
Regional brain μ-OR binding potential (BP) was measured using [
11C]carfentanil positron emission tomography in eight male alcohol-dependent subjects undergoing alcohol withdrawal and eight matched control subjects. Self-reported alcohol craving, withdrawal, and mood were measured.
Lower μ-OR BP was associated with higher craving in the right dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, the right anterior frontal cortex, and right parietal cortex. In these regions, alcoholics showed lower mean μ-OR BP compared with control subjects. Mu-OR BP in four other brain regions also correlated with craving, but there were no group differences in receptor binding potential. Mu-OR BP also correlated with depressive symptoms in five brain regions, three of which were identified in the craving analyses.
Results show a strong functional relationship between alcohol craving, mood, and μ-OR binding in specific brain regions of recently abstinent, alcohol-dependent men.