Decreasing striatal 6-FDOPA uptake with increasing duration of cocaine withdrawal

It has been hypothesized that a decrease in dopaminergic presynaptic activity during abstinence or withdrawal is related to relapse in cocaine-dependent subjects (Dackis and Gold 1985; Markou and Koob 1991). This study measured striatal 6-fluorodopa (6-FDOPA) uptake, an index of dopaminergic presynaptic activity, using positron emission tomography (PET) in 11 drug-free cocaine addicts compared to eight normal subjects. Middle abstinence cocaine addicts (n = 5, off cocaine 11-30 days) had significantly lower striatal 6-FDOPA uptake compared to normal controls or early abstinence cocaine addicts (n = 6, off cocaine 1-10 days). The cocaine-dependent subjects (n = 11) showed a significant negative correlation between days off cocaine and striatal 6-FDOPA uptake. The results suggest that during abstinence from cocaine there is a delayed decrease in dopamine terminal activity in the striatum.