Gambling fever starts in the brain

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2005/1/16/features/9882581&sec=features

Sunday January 16, 2005
Gambling fever starts in the brain

By Rick Weiss

AN abnormal craving for pleasurable stimulation, combined with a lack of impulse control, may explain why some people become pathological gamblers, a German study suggests.

Scientists have long theorised that some people get addicted to drugs because their brains are relatively unreactive to dopamine, a brain chemical that offers most people a constant, low-level sense of reward. Hungry for the positive signals that others get from routine activities, these people turn to dopamine-stimulating drugs such as cocaine, the theory goes.

To see if similar abnormalities might explain why 1% to 2% of adults end up essentially addicted to gambling, Christian Buchel, of University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, conducted brain scans on 12 pathological gamblers (people whose relationships, finances and social status are negatively affected by their gambling) and compared them with 12 healthy counterparts. The scans tracked brain activity while the participants played a computer gambling game programmed to create a string of wins and losses.

Compared with the controls, the pathological gamblers showed a lower level of activity in the ventral striatum, the dopamine-producing brain region that provides the pleasure in winning, suggesting gamblers remain unsatisfied even when winning. The scans also showed decreased activation of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex – the brain’s “superego,” which keeps people from acting impulsively.

The findings, reported in last Sunday’s online edition of Nature Neuroscience, suggest that pathological gamblers are predisposed to their long nights at the slots.

It’s possible, said Buchel, that at least some of the brain differences are the result – rather than the cause – of so much gambling. Sorting that out will require long-term studies – a difficult proposition, he said, because pathological gamblers tend not to show up for study appointments. – LAT-WP