Dopamine Reward Pathway Among Obese Individuals And Drug Addicts

This research paper will evaluate the biological aspects of addictive substance or behavior and how it affects the brain and organs. Biological aspects include dopamine levels that are replaced in the brain due to the reward system being overtaken and the absorption rate of the drug once it is ingested will be discussed. The biological aspects are extensive and permanent if the individual does not get the help they need. Furthermore the clinical issues of addictive substance or behavior will be discussed along with medical treatments and ethical issues. This includes treatments such as counseling

According to the biological perspective, drug use may start off as casual, but through continued use, it produces changes in the brain that influences the onset and maintenance of drug addiction. (Horvath et al., 2013). Drugs have their most prominent effects on the function of neurotransmitters. Almost all major drugs of abuse activate the reward system and cause a flood in the levels of dopamine which is a neurotransmitter that is involved in pleasure. As a result, not only do people learn to associate drug use with pleasure, but the brain also starts to reduce its own natural dopamine production in adjustment to the levels of dopamine produced by the drugs. This is called tolerance, and the consequences of tolerance are highly influential

The addictive properties of cocaine are a dopamine D2-receptor researchers “indicate that these dopaminergic neural systems play an important part in rewarding effects” (Miller, Gold, Smith, 1997, p.64).

Across all addictions, there is a central theory as to how such an addiction can occur. The common mechanism of all addictive substances is the activation of the brain’s “reward system”, made up of dopaminergic neurons of the midbrain and their extensions to the limbic system (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3272277/). This system is normally used in advancing evolutionary fitness promoting activity, such as sex, food, or social interactions (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3272277/). In such normal natural behaviors, the reward system activity is relatively brief and weak. However, addictive substances abuse the system’s circuitry, causing

Basic neurobiological research has improved our understanding of the biological and genetic causes of addiction. These findings have helped establish addiction as a biological brain disease that is chronic and relapsing in nature (Leshner, 1997). As the central nervous system is considered to be the communication pathway to the entire body with the brain being its control mechanism. The brain processes sensory information from throughout the body, guides muscle movement and locomotion, regulates a multitude of bodily functions, forms thoughts and feelings, modulates perception and moods, and essentially controls all behavior (Leshner, 1997). The body and brain then become defendant on this stimuli, as the body and brain adjust to the rewards of receiving this type of sensation. This is where the substance abuse and addiction problems

The purpose of this paper is to examine the article, “The Brain’s Rewarding System & Addiction” (2004) by Katharine P. Bailey, MSN. In this article, I did not find a general hypothesis. Studies in this article show that most drugs directly or indirectly cause selective elevation of dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens (NA), the ventral tegmental area (VTA), and the limbic system, consequently called the reward center of the brain (Bailey, 2004). Behaviors that bring pleasure and are also crucial to existence (eating, drinking, and sex) also activate the same reward circuitry, however, activation of this circuitry by addictive drugs can be much

79). Overall, this is a problem, because there continues to be a lack of the public endorsement and support of those seeking treatment regardless of the addiction. Individuals suffer with addictive behaviors for many reasons that include genetic factors. These things are uncontrollable and are harder to be prevented. Inaba and Cohen (2014) stated, “One of the genes that signals a susceptibility to compulsive overreaction” (p. 7.47). The new definition of addiction non/substance and behavior is now based on the psychoactive drugs and certain behaviors that produce the surge of dopamine in the midbrain are biological substrate for addictive behavior (Smith, 2012). Overall, it is important to include all addictive behaviors and substance abuse when diagnosing individuals. It is more important to treat all conditions or addictions than it is to assume that it is not as an important or one is more problematic than one or the

When a human encounters a reward such as sex, money, food or approval, it triggers the release of dopamine into the bloodstream, which gives a natural high. Now if drugs were introduced into a body, the brain would create up to 10 times the normal amount of dopamine, which is why drugs create such euphoria during a high (Siddiqui 4). This alarming amount of dopamine production is far beyond what the human brain can produce, thus leading to the brain solely relying upon the drug for dopamine production. Once an individual recovers from the high, the body undergoes homeostasis which is the regulation to bring the every system in the body back to normal. However the brain has become so reliant on the drug to induce dopamine it there is a shift in priority for the individual, a shift that convinces the brain the drug is necessary for survival (Siddiqui 6). With these afflictions to the human mind, research is still ongoing for exactly what causes addiction. The University of Utah is currently the leader in genetics study towards how addiction works and has come to the conclusion that addiction is inherited. The discovery is a result of isolating key genes, receptor cells and hormones that work in specific combinations that are directly related for certain addictions. The research was conducted on lab mice by administering different drugs such as alcohol and cocaine, and then meticulously identifies those that became addicted and identified certain aspects of their

Prior to all of the scientific knowledge that was discovered about drug usage in the United States in the late 20th century, many Americans had an extremely negative connotation about drug users; this stigmatization continues to occur today. Today, many scientists who study addiction and its effects on the human body have come to the realization that a myriad of people cannot control themselves when it comes to stop being addicted. During the TED Talk, prominent neurologist and Director of the National Institute of on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Nora Volkow discusses the parallels of addiction in drug users and addiction in obese individuals.

The disease model: This theory states that an individual who abuses drugs requires medical treatment rather than moral punishment or exhortation. This theory also justifies spending money to research substance abuse in the same way that money is spent to research other diseases. However, usually the term disease is reserved for a state in which we can identify an abnormal biochemical or physical condition. No abnormal biochemical or physical condition has been found in the case of substance addiction, although mounting evidence suggests that some individuals are genetically predisposed to addiction more so than others. Nevertheless, this theory continues to appeal to researchers, and an intensive effort is always being made to identify the physiological “switch” that establishes addiction after exposure to a drug (Lee, 2010).

Substance addiction can hugely impact on a person’s thinking, functioning and behaviour. Whilst depressant drugs such as alcohol and opioids slow down your central nervous system (CNS), stimulants such as cocaine or amphetamine increase the activity of the CNS, leading to higher blood pressure, heart rate and increased alertness. Repeated abuse of the substance leads to tolerance and withdrawal, in turn this leads to the user showing signs of irrational behaviour. Another form of substance abuse is hallucinogens; they can cause powerful changes in sensory perceptions. It works by binding to the serotonin receptors, these neurons control visual information and emotions, and this can lead to various effects on the user. Neurobiology can help us understand the reasons for addiction and the effects they have on us. Groman and Jentsch (2012) discuss key issues of differentiating the causes and consequences of addiction through neuroimaging and behavioural research on monkeys, they found that the dysfunction of the dopamine

According to 2009-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, more than two thirds of US adults are overweight or obese1 generating an estimated health care cost of $150 billion2. Increasing obesity prevalence may be attributed to a decrease in energy expenditure and an increase in intake of foods rich in sugar and fat, increase in snacking prevalence and energy density of snacks consumed3. Feeding is a complex behavior involving the integration of physiological energy needs and the pleasure derived from food consumption. Hypothalamic centers regulate energy-need based feeding, whereas the consumption of palatable foods, such as foods rich in fat and sugar, is regulated by the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system. The two

In the article “Dopamine and Teenage Logic” by Daniel Siegel he states that “Dopamine is a neurotransmitter central in creating our drive for reward” (Source B). This indicates that dopamine is one of the key causes of risk-taking. Teens often take risks because they are focused on the reward they get after they take it, rather than what would actually happen to them during and after they take the risk. There are two significant ways that dopamine affects our brains; increased impulsiveness, and the susceptibility to addiction by the release of dopamine.

The complexity of the human brain creates mystery when determining the influence of neurophysiological factors and their role in the process of addiction. There is a proposed relationship between drug addiction and the mesolimbic dopamine system, with the mesolimbic pathway from the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens considered the ‘reward centre’ of the human brain (Alcohol Rehab, 2011). A release of dopamine is necessary for ‘reward’ which is hypothesised to initiate the addiction cycle by providing positive reinforcement for drug self-administration (Feltenstein & See, 2009). Methamphetamine triggers the release of dopamine from synaptic vesicles which flood the synaptic cleft activating feelings of euphoria, well-being

“The overstimulation of this reward system, which normally responds to natural behaviors linked to survival (eating, spending time with loved ones, etc.), produces euphoric effects in response to psychoactive drugs. This reaction sets in motion a reinforcing pattern that “teaches” people to repeat the rewarding behavior of abusing drugs ”(“Understanding Drug Abuse). Using addictive drugs floods the limbic brain with dopamine, taking it up to as much as five or ten times the normal level. A person with elevated dopamine levels now has a brain that begins to associate the substance with an outside neurochemical reward (“Your Brain on Drugs”). As a person continues to abuse drugs, the brain adapts to the overwhelming surges in dopamine by producing less dopamine or by reducing the number of dopamine receptors in the reward circuit. The result is a lessening of dopamine’s impact on the reward circuit, which reduces the abuser’s ability to enjoy the drugs, as well as the events in life that previously brought pleasure. The decrease in normal dopamine levels encourages the addict to keep abusing drugs in an attempt to bring the dopamine function back to normal, except now larger amounts of the drug are required to achieve the same dopamine high, an effect known as tolerance (“Understanding Drug Abuse ). That is what leads to the state of addiction, which leaves the person in a cycle of craving, using, withdrawal, and relapse.