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Aggressive responding in abstinent heroin addicts: neuroendocrine and personality correlates. 2004

Gilberto Gerra, and Amir Zaimovic, and Gabriele Moi, and Monica Bussandri, and Cristina Bubici, and Matteo Mossini, and Maria Augusta Raggi, and Francesca Brambilla
Centro Studi Farmacotossicodipendenze, Ser. T., AUSL, Via Spalato 2, 43100 Parma, Italy. ggerra@ausl.pr.it

Objective measures of experimentally induced aggressiveness were evaluated in 20 abstinent heroin-dependent subjects, in comparison with 20 normal healthy male subjects. All the subjects were preliminarily submitted to DSM-IV interviews, Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI) and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI II). During a laboratory task, the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm (PSAP), subjects earned monetary reinforcers with repeated button presses and were provoked by the subtraction of money, which was attributed to a fictitious other participant. Subjects could respond by ostensibly subtracting money from the fictitious subject (the aggressive response). Money-earning responses were not different in drug-free heroin addicts and controls during the first two sessions and significantly lower during the third session in heroin-dependent subjects (t=2.99, P<.01). Aggressive responses were significantly higher (F=4.9, P<.01) in heroin addicted individuals, in comparison with controls. During the experimentally induced aggressiveness, plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol (CORT) concentrations increased less significantly, and norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (EPI) levels, together with heart rate (HR), increased more significantly in abstinent heroin-dependent subjects than in healthy subjects. PSAP aggressive responses positively correlated with catecholamine changes, BDHI "direct" and "irritability" scores, MMPI "psychopathic deviate" scores in heroin-dependent subjects and controls, and with CORT responses only in healthy subjects. No correlation was found between heroin-exposure extent (substance abuse history duration) and aggressiveness levels. The present findings suggest that heroin-dependent patients have higher outward-directed aggressiveness than healthy subjects, in relation with monoamine hyperreactivity, after long-term opiate discontinuation. Aggressiveness in heroin addicts seems to be related more to the personality traits than to drug effects. The impairment of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in abstinent addicted individuals could be due to a long-lasting action exerted by opiates on proopiomelanocortin (POMC) or to a premorbid psychobiological condition, in association with increased sympathetic arousal.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D008950 MMPI A personality inventory consisting of statements to be asserted or denied by the individual. The patterns of response are characteristic of certain personality attributes. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
D009483 Neuropsychological Tests Tests designed to assess neurological function associated with certain behaviors. They are used in diagnosing brain dysfunction or damage and central nervous system disorders or injury. Aphasia Tests,Cognitive Test,Cognitive Testing,Cognitive Tests,Memory for Designs Test,Neuropsychological Testing,AX-CPT,Behavioral Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome,CANTAB,Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery,Clock Test,Cognitive Function Scanner,Continuous Performance Task,Controlled Oral Word Association Test,Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System,Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment,Hooper Visual Organization Test,NEPSY,Neuropsychologic Tests,Neuropsychological Test,Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test,Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status,Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure,Symbol Digit Modalities Test,Test of Everyday Attention,Test, Neuropsychological,Tests, Neuropsychological,Tower of London Test,Neuropsychologic Test,Test, Cognitive,Testing, Cognitive,Testing, Neuropsychological,Tests, Cognitive
D009490 Neurosecretory Systems A system of NEURONS that has the specialized function to produce and secrete HORMONES, and that constitutes, in whole or in part, an ENDOCRINE SYSTEM or organ. Neuroendocrine System,Neuroendocrine Systems,Neurosecretory System,System, Neuroendocrine,System, Neurosecretory,Systems, Neuroendocrine,Systems, Neurosecretory
D009638 Norepinephrine Precursor of epinephrine that is secreted by the ADRENAL MEDULLA and is a widespread central and autonomic neurotransmitter. Norepinephrine is the principal transmitter of most postganglionic sympathetic fibers, and of the diffuse projection system in the brain that arises from the LOCUS CERULEUS. It is also found in plants and is used pharmacologically as a sympathomimetic. Levarterenol,Levonorepinephrine,Noradrenaline,Arterenol,Levonor,Levophed,Levophed Bitartrate,Noradrenaline Bitartrate,Noradrénaline tartrate renaudin,Norepinephrin d-Tartrate (1:1),Norepinephrine Bitartrate,Norepinephrine Hydrochloride,Norepinephrine Hydrochloride, (+)-Isomer,Norepinephrine Hydrochloride, (+,-)-Isomer,Norepinephrine d-Tartrate (1:1),Norepinephrine l-Tartrate (1:1),Norepinephrine l-Tartrate (1:1), (+,-)-Isomer,Norepinephrine l-Tartrate (1:1), Monohydrate,Norepinephrine l-Tartrate (1:1), Monohydrate, (+)-Isomer,Norepinephrine l-Tartrate (1:2),Norepinephrine l-Tartrate, (+)-Isomer,Norepinephrine, (+)-Isomer,Norepinephrine, (+,-)-Isomer
D010551 Personality Behavior-response patterns that characterize the individual. Personalities
D011569 Psychiatric Status Rating Scales Standardized procedures utilizing rating scales or interview schedules carried out by health personnel for evaluating the degree of mental illness. Factor Construct Rating Scales (FCRS),Katz Adjustment Scales,Lorr's Inpatient Multidimensional Psychiatric Rating Scale,Wittenborn Scales,Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale,Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview
D004837 Epinephrine The active sympathomimetic hormone from the ADRENAL MEDULLA. It stimulates both the alpha- and beta- adrenergic systems, causes systemic VASOCONSTRICTION and gastrointestinal relaxation, stimulates the HEART, and dilates BRONCHI and cerebral vessels. It is used in ASTHMA and CARDIAC FAILURE and to delay absorption of local ANESTHETICS. Adrenaline,4-(1-Hydroxy-2-(methylamino)ethyl)-1,2-benzenediol,Adrenaline Acid Tartrate,Adrenaline Bitartrate,Adrenaline Hydrochloride,Epifrin,Epinephrine Acetate,Epinephrine Bitartrate,Epinephrine Hydrochloride,Epinephrine Hydrogen Tartrate,Epitrate,Lyophrin,Medihaler-Epi,Acetate, Epinephrine
D006439 Hemodynamics The movement and the forces involved in the movement of the blood through the CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM. Hemodynamic
D006556 Heroin Dependence Strong dependence or addiction, both physiological and emotional, upon HEROIN. Heroin Abuse,Heroin Addiction,Heroin Smoking,Abuse, Heroin,Addiction, Heroin,Dependence, Heroin,Heroin Smokings,Smoking, Heroin

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