Norepinephrine Transporter Imaging in Addiction Disorders

Inclusion Criteria

• •1. age 18-50 years inclusive;
• •2. able to read and write English;
• •3. for women, being in follicular phase of menstrual cycle at the time of the PET scan as determined by calculating the time since the last menses and assessments of serum hormone levels;
• •4. 30 \< BMI \< 35 for obese subjects (upper limit of 35 selected given our experience with heavier individuals fitting comfortably in the MRI scanner) and 18.5 \< BMI \<25 for normal weight subjects, and no recent weight changes in prior 12 weeks prior to the study;
• •5. for alcohol dependent patients meet current DSM-IV criteria for alcohol dependence or being in partial remission; abstinence on the MRI and PET scan days will be determined by patient self-report, breath alcohol tests (BACs) conducted during inpatient stay at the CNRU/GCRC, participants have to be non-obese BMI \< 30, and
• •6. for current daily smokers, having smoked 10 or more cigarettes daily for the past year and CO level \> 10 ppm at intake; for non-smokers, no tobacco consumption for more than one year and never having used tobacco daily.
• •2. use of any psychoactive medication within past three weeks;
• •3. any significant unstable medical condition such as asthma or heart disease which may limit the interpretation of the imaging results, for example due to changes in tracer delivery in hypertensive patients;
• •4. IQ\<70 based on past intelligence testing;
• •5. any metal in body that would pose a risk with MRI; and
• +5 more criteria