Table 2: Dopamine Concentrations in the Central Nervous System in Response to Drugs of Abuse.

A summary of human and animal studies that have examined concentrations of dopamine within the central nervous system in response to drugs of abuse. Both original values and our calculated relative molar values are reported to easily compare concentrations of dopamine between studies.

Original Dopamine Concentration	Concentration of Dopamine (M)	Change from Baseline	Location	Species	Drug	Method	Reference
900 pg/10 μlb	5.9 × 10−7 Ma	Increased	Amygdala	Rat	Amphetamine	Microdialysis	(Tor-Agbidye et al. 2001)
147 pg/20μl	4.8 × 10−8 Ma	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	Amphetamine	Microdialysis	(Hernandez and Hoebel 1988)
70nMb	7 × 10−8 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	Amphetamine	Microdialysis	(Moghadda m and Bunney 1989)
7nMb	7 × 10−9 M	Increased	Prefrontal Cortex (Medial)	Rat	Amphetamine	Microdialysis	(Moghadda m and Bunney 1989)
300 nMb (Phasic)	3 × 10−7 M	Increased	Caudate/Putamen	Rat	Cocaine	FSCV	(Venton et al. 2003)
110 nM (Tonic)	1.1 × 10−7 M	Increased	Caudate/Putamen	Rat	Cocaine	FSCV	(Venton et al. 2003)
4175 fmol/35 μlb	1.2 × 10−7 Ma	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens	Mouse	Cocaine	Microdialysis	(Airavaara et al. 2004)
65 nM	6.5 × 10−8 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	Cocaine	FSCV	(Phillips et al. 2003)
36 nMb	3.6 × 10−8 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	Cocaine	Microdialysis	(Smith et al. 2006)
122nMb	1.2 × 10−7 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	Cocaine	Microdialysis	(Moghadda m and Bunney 1989)
85 pg/20 μlb	2.8 × 10−8 Ma	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	Cocaine	Microdialysis	(Hernandez and Hoebel 1988)
2.62 μM	2.6 × 10−6 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	Cocaine	Microdialysis	(Pettit et al. 1990)
70 nM	7 × 10−8 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens (Core)	Rat	Cocaine	FSCV	(Wightman et al. 2007)
70 nM	7 × 10−8 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens (Core)	Rat	Cocaine	FSCV	(Stuber et al. 2005)
0.83 nMb	8.3 × 10−10 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens (Shell)	Rat	Cocaine	LC-MS/MS	(Hows et al. 2004)
250 fmol/50μl	4.9 × 10−7 Ma	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens (Shell)	Rat	Cocaine	Microdialysis	(Fadda et al. 2003)
8nMb	8 × 10−9 M	No Change	Prefrontal Cortex (Medial)	Rat	Cocaine	Microdialysis	(Moghadda m and Bunney 1989)
35 fmol/μlb	3.5 × 10−8 Ma	Increased	Striatum	Primate	Cocaine	Microdialysis	(Bradberry 2000)
60 nMb	6 × 10−8 M	Increased	Striatum	Rat	Cocaine	Microdialysis	(Shou et al. 2006)
3.6 nMb	3.6 × 10−9 M	Increased	Caudate/Putamen	Mouse	Ethanol	Microdialysis	(Bosse and Mathews 2011)
2.96 fmol/μlb	3 × 10−9 Ma	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	Ethanol	Microdialysis	(Yan 1999)
6.21 nM	6.2 × 10−9 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	Ethanol	Microdialysis	(Weiss et al. 1996)
13.2 nM	1.3 × 10−8 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	Ethanol	Microdialysis	(Yim and Gonzales 2000)
14 nMb	1.4 × 10−8 M	No Change	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	Heroin	Microdialysis	(Smith et al. 2006)
8.8 nMb	8.8 × 10−9 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	Heroin	Microdialysis	(Hemby et al. 1995)
2.97 ng/mg	1.9 × 10−5 Ma	Decreased	Caudate	Human	Methamphetamine	HPLC	(Wilson et al. 1996a)
1.48 ng/mg	1 × 10−5 Ma	Decreased	Nucleus Accumbens	Human	Methamphetamine	HPLC	(Wilson et al. 1996a)
3.49 ng/mg	2.3 × 10−5 Ma	Decreased	Putamen	Human	Methamphetamine	HPLC	(Wilson et al. 1996a)
0.1 nmol/mg	1 × 10−4 Ma	Decreased	Striatum	Mouse	Methamphetamine	HPLC	(Kita et al. 2000)
50 nMb	5 × 10−8 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens (Core)	Rat	Morphine	FSCV	(Vander Weele et al. 2014)
0.02 pmol/20 μl	1 × 10−9 Ma	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	Morphine	Microdialysis	(Pothos et al. 1991)
0.21 pmol/25 μlb	8.4 × 10−9 Ma	No Change	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	Morphine	Microdialysis	(Anagnosta kis and Spyraki 1994)
50 nMb	5 × 10−8 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens (Shell)	Rat	Morphine	FSCV	(Vander Weele et al. 2014)
200 fmol/50μl	4 × 10−7 Ma	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens (Shell)	Rat	Morphine	Microdialysis	(Fadda et al. 2003)
250 nMb	2.5 × 10−7 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens (Core)	Rat	Oxycodone	FSCV	(Vander Weele et al. 2014)
500 nMb	5 × 10−7 M	Increased	Nucleus Accumbens (Shell)	Rat	Oxycodone	FSCV	(Vander Weele et al. 2014)
1.5 nM	1.5 × 10−9 M	Decreased	Striatum	Mouse	Oxycodone	Microdialysis	(Zhang et al. 2009)
88 fmol/40 μlb	2.2 × 10−9 Ma	No Change	Nucleus Accumbens	Rat	THC	Microdialysis	(Chen et al. 1993)
134 nmol/Lb	1.3 × 10−7 Ma	Decreased	Prefrontal Cortex	Rat	THC	Microdialysis	(Pistis et al. 2002)
604.5 fmol/40 μlb	1.5 × 10−8 Ma	Increased	Ventral Tegmental Area	Rat	THC	Microdialysis	(Chen et al. 1993)

^aConcentrations calculated by dividing values by the molecular weight of dopamine (153.18 g/mol) if not already in a molar value, and multiplying the density of tissues or fluids (kg/L or kg/m^3)

^bEstimate obtained from graph because no values given in text, or averaged values if multiple control values were given

^cValue obtained from one or an average of treatment groups other than control because no absolute control given

^dAveraged male and female control groups