Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:15:56.887Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Electroretinogram in withdrawn cocaine-dependent subjects

Relationship to cue-elicited craving

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

David A. Smelson ,
Monique Roy ,
Alec Roy  and
Sandra Santana
David A. Smelson*
Affiliation:
Department of Veterans Affairs, New Jersey Healthcare System, Lyon Campus, New Jersey
Monique Roy
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School
Alec Roy
Affiliation:
Department of Veterans Affairs, New Jersey Healthcare System, East Orange Campus, New Jersey
Sandra Santana
Affiliation:
Department of Veterans Affairs, New Jersey Healthcare System, Lyon Campus, New Jersey
*
D. A. Smelson, Department of Veterans Affairs, New Jersey Healthcare System, Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences (Building 143). 151 Knollcroft Road, Lyons, NJ 07939, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

We have previously reported that people who are cocaine-dependent have reduced blue cone b-wave electroretinogram (ERG) responses. In this preliminary study, we examined the relationship between blue cone ERG amplitudes and craving response to cocaine cues.

Method

A new series of 14 recently withdrawn subjects who were cocaine-dependent completed a cocaine craving questionnaire at baseline, and again following exposure to laboratory cues; an ERG was also performed.

Results

Cocaine-dependent subjects with a blunted ERG blue cone response (<0.5 μV) showed significantly greater increases in craving following cue-exposure than subjects without the blunted ERG blue cone response.

Conclusions

Subjects with a blunted ERG response may represent a subgroup more vulnerable to cocaine craving and relapse.

Type
Preliminary Report
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 172 , Issue 6 , June 1998 , pp. 537 - 539
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM–III–R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Avants, K.S. Margolin, A. Kosten, T. et al (1995) Differences between responders and non-responders to cocaine cues in a laboratory. Addictive Behaviors, 20, 215–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bodis-Woliner, I. (1990) Visual deficits related to dopamine deficiency in experimental animals and Parkinson's disease patients. Trends in Neuroscience, 13, 296–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, C. Allen, T. Marsden, C. et al (1987) Electroretinographic abnormalities in idiopathic Parkinson's disease and the effect of levodopa administration. Clinical Visual Science, 1, 347–355.Google Scholar
Holopigian, C. Clewner, L. Seiple, W. et al (1994) The effects of dopamine blockade on the human flash electroretinogram, Documenta Ophthalmologica, 86, 1.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Markou, A. Weiss, F. Gold, L. et al (1993) Animal models of craving. Psychopharmacology, 112, 163–182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maruiwa, F. Kim, S. Nao, N. et al (1994) Effects of metoclopramide, dopamine receptor blockade, on the ERG light peak. Nippon G. G. Zasshi Acta Societatis Ophthalmologicae Japanicae, 375–380.Google Scholar
Roy, M. Smelson, D. & Roy, A. (1994) Abnormal electroretinogram in cocaine-dependent patients: relationship to craving. British Journal of Psychiatry, 168, 507–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roy, M. Roy, A. Williams, J. et al (1997) Reduced blue-cone electroretinogram in cocaine withdrawn patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 54, 153–154.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tiffany, S. Singleton, E. Haertzen, C. et al (1993) The development of a cocaine-craving questionnaire. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 34, 19–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.