[Functional neuroimaging of addiction].

Positron emission tomography studies investigating dopamine release by drug or reward demonstrated blunted dopamine release in relation to addiction to psychostimulants such as cocaine and amphetamine. However, recent studies reported that nicotine and gambling addiction showed opposite results. Several factors such as illness stage or neurotoxicity of substances could be considered for this discrepancy. Behavioral addiction such as gambling disorder is a good target of neuroimaging because it is free from overt neurotoxicity. However, even in gambling disorder, the results of fMRI studies investigating neural response to reward are mixed. Neuroimaging together with taking the various backgrounds of patients into account should contribute not only to a better understanding of the neurobiology of addiction but also to the development of more effective and individually tailored treatment strategies for addiction.