Data set for "Decoupling Dopamine Synthesis from Impulsive Action, Risk-related Decision-Making, and Propensity to Cocaine Intake: A Longitudinal [18F]-FDOPA PET Study in Roman High- and Low-avoidance Rats"

This dataset corresponds to the study Decoupling Dopamine Synthesis from Impulsive Action, Risk-related Decision-Making, and Propensity to Cocaine Intake: A Longitudinal [18F]-FDOPA PET Study in Roman High- and Low-avoidance Rats. In this study, we investigated the predictive value of DA synthesis for impulsive action, RDM, and the propensity to take cocaine in a rat model of vulnerability to cocaine abuse. Additionally, we assessed the effects of cocaine intake on these variables. Rats were tested sequentially in the rat Gambling Task (rGT) and were scanned with positron emission tomography and [18F]-FDOPA to respectively assess their levels of impulsive action/RDM and their striatal DA synthesis before and after cocaine or saline self-administration (SA). Our results revealed that baseline striatal levels of DA synthesis did not significantly predict impulsive action, RDM, or a greater propensity to cocaine self-administration (SA) in impulsive animals. Besides, we showed that impulsive action, but not RDM, predicted higher rates of cocaine-taking. However, chronic cocaine exposure had no impact on DA synthesis nor affected impulsive action and RDM. These findings indicate that the hyperresponsive DA system associated with impulsivity and a propensity for cocaine consumption, along with the reduction in this hyperresponsive DA state in impulsive animals with a history of cocaine use, might not be mediated by dynamic changes in DA synthesis.

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