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Social dominance in monkeys: dopamine D2 receptors and cocaine self-administration

Nature Neuroscience volume 5, pages 169–174 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Disruption of the dopaminergic system has been implicated in the etiology of many pathological conditions, including drug addiction. Here we used positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to study brain dopaminergic function in individually housed and in socially housed cynomolgus macaques (n = 20). Whereas the monkeys did not differ during individual housing, social housing increased the amount or availability of dopamine D2 receptors in dominant monkeys and produced no change in subordinate monkeys. These neurobiological changes had an important behavioral influence as demonstrated by the finding that cocaine functioned as a reinforcer in subordinate but not dominant monkeys. These data demonstrate that alterations in an organism's environment can produce profound biological changes that have important behavioral associations, including vulnerability to cocaine addiction.

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Figure 1: [18F]FCP has high uptake and linear rate of washout in the basal ganglia (BG; black symbols) relative to the cerebellum (Cb; white symbols).
Figure 2: [18F]FCP binding potential changes as a function of social rank.
Figure 3: [18F]FCP binding potential increases in dominant monkeys.
Figure 4: Reinforcing effects of cocaine are greater in subordinate monkeys compared to dominant animals.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank C.S. Carter for comments on the manuscript; C. Hubbard, T. Moore and J. Lile for assistance with handling the monkeys; R. Kuhner for conducting the PET scans; and E. Nicks and P. Warren for assistance analyzing the social behavior data. This research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse Grant DA-10584.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, 27157, North Carolina, USA

    Drake Morgan, Kathleen A. Grant, Robert H. Mach, Osric Prioleau, Susan H. Nader & Michael A. Nader

  2. Department of Radiology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, 27157, North Carolina, USA

    H. Donald Gage, Robert H. Mach, Nancy Buchheimer, Richard L. Ehrenkaufer & Michael A. Nader

  3. Departments of Pathology (Comparative Medicine) and Anthropology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, 27157, North Carolina, USA

    Jay R. Kaplan

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Correspondence to Michael A. Nader.

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Morgan, D., Grant, K., Gage, H. et al. Social dominance in monkeys: dopamine D2 receptors and cocaine self-administration. Nat Neurosci 5, 169–174 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn798

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