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. 2012:2012:854524.
doi: 10.1155/2012/854524. Epub 2012 Mar 13.

Reduced striatal dopamine transporters in people with internet addiction disorder

Haifeng Hou  1 , Shaowe Jia, Shu Hu, Rong Fan, Wen Sun, Taotao Sun, Hong Zhang
Affiliations

Reduced striatal dopamine transporters in people with internet addiction disorder

Haifeng Hou et al. J Biomed Biotechnol. 2012.

Abstract

In recent years, internet addiction disorder (IAD) has become more prevalent worldwide and the recognition of its devastating impact on the users and society has rapidly increased. However, the neurobiological mechanism of IAD has not bee fully expressed. The present study was designed to determine if the striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) levels measured by (99m)Tc-TRODAT-1 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) brain scans were altered in individuals with IAD. SPECT brain scans were acquired on 5 male IAD subjects and 9 healthy age-matched controls. The volume (V) and weight (W) of bilateral corpus striatum as well as the (99m)Tc-TRODAT-1 uptake ratio of corpus striatum/the whole brain (Ra) were calculated using mathematical models. It was displayed that DAT expression level of striatum was significantly decreased and the V, W, and Ra were greatly reduced in the individuals with IAD compared to controls. Taken together, these results suggest that IAD may cause serious damages to the brain and the neuroimaging findings further illustrate IAD is associated with dysfunctions in the dopaminergic brain systems. Our findings also support the claim that IAD may share similar neurobiological abnormalities with other addictive disorders.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a,b) representative 99mTc-TRODAT-1 SPECT images of an IAD subject in comparison with an age-matched healthy control ((a) a 20-year-old male IAD subject; (b) a 20-year-old male healthy control). Left hemisphere is on right side of image. The IAD subject demonstrates a significant decrease in binding of  99mTc-TRODAT-1 to the DAT in the striatum and the bilateral corpus striatum is much smaller and more irregular than that in the control.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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