Neuroscience at The University of Chicago

Research Interests

Dr. de Wit studies the psychopharmacology of substance abuse in healthy human volunteers, with a focus on individual differences in responses to drugs. Individual differences in the subjective and behavioral responses to drugs are related to vulnerability for future repeated drug use, abuse or dependence. The de Wit laboratory studies variations in responses to acute challenge doses of drugs in healthy volunteers, in relation to genotypes, personality, stress reactivity, impulsivity and hormones. The measures of drug effects include self-report measures of liking, anxiety or euphoria, as well as behavioral measures of impulsivity, attention and cognition. Some of the studies use brain imaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to measure actions of the drugs in the brain. Other studies, in collaboration with Dr. Abe Palmer, use genotypic analysis to study genetic associations with drug responses, by investigating associations between drug responses and polymorphisms in the genes encoding proteins involved in dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin function. Other current projects include studies on the effects of drugs on emotional processing, and a study of risk factors for relapse to cigarette smoking. The drugs currently under investigation include amphetamine, MDMA, benzodiazepines, nicotine, alcohol, caffeine and tetrahydrocannabinol. These laboratory-based studies with healthy volunteers are truly translational, in that they provide a critical bridge between basic bio-behavioral findings from studies with laboratory animals and clinical applications with patient populations.

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Select Publications

Childs, E., H. de Wit (2009) Physiological, hormonal and subjective responses to acute stress in smokers. Psychopharmacology, 203, 1-12.

de Wit, H. (2009) Impulsivity as a determinant and consequence of drug use: A review of underlying processes. Addiction Biology. 14, 22-31.

Bornovalova M.A., Cashman-Rolls A., O'Donnell J.M., Ettinger K., Richards J.B., de Wit H, Lejuez CW (2009) Risk taking differences on a behavioral task as a function of potential reward/loss magnitude and individual differences in impulsivity and sensation seeking. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 93, 258-262.

Childs, E., H. de Wit (2009) Amphetamine-induced place preference in humans. Biological Psychiatry 65, 900-4.

Hamidovic, A., H. de Wit. (2009) Sleep deprivation increases smoking. Pharmacol, Biochem Behav, 93, 263-9.

Metrik, J., D. Rohsenow, P.M. Monti, J. McGeary, T.A.R. Cook, H. de Wit, M. Haney, C. Kahler (2009) Effectiveness of a marijuana expectancy manipulation: Piloting the balanced placebo design for marijuana. Experimental Clinical Psychopharmacology, 17, 217-225.

Childs, E., H. de Wit. Cardiovascular, hormonal and emotional responses to the TSST in relation to sex and menstrual cycle phase. Psychophysiology.In Press

Dlugos, A.M., A. Hamidovic, A.D. Skol, A.A. Palmer, H, de Wit Further evidence of association between amphetamine response and SLC6A2 gene variants. Psychopharmacology. In Press

Dlugos, A.M., J. Badner, A.A. Palmer, H. de Wit Negative Emotionality: Monoamine oxidase B gene variants modulate personality traits in healthy humans. Journal of Neural Transmission.In Press

Bedi, G, K.L. Phan, M. Angstadt, H. de Wit. Effects of MDMA on sociability and neural response to social threat and social reward. Psychopharmacology.In Press

Zacny, J.P., H. de Wit The prescription opioid, oxycodone, does not alter behavioral measures of impulsivity in healthy volunteers. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior. In Press

Childs, E., N.T. Van Dam, H. de Wit Effects of acute progesterone administration upon responses to acute psychosocial stress in men. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. In Press

Dlugos, A.M., A. Hamidovic, C.A. Hodgkinson, D. Goldman, A.A. Palmer, H. de Wit More aroused, less fatigued: FAAH gene polymorphisms influence acute response to amphetamine. Neuropsychopharmacology. In Press

Hamidovic, A., A. Dlugos, A. Skol, A.A. Palmer, H. de Wit An exploratory study of genetic variability in response to amphetamine: the dopamine D2 receptor in relation to behavioral inhibition and impulsivity/sensation seeking. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.In Press .

Porcu, P, T.K. O’Buckley, S.E. Alward, K.A. Grant, H. de Wit, A.L. Morrow Differential effects of ethanol on serum GABAergic 3?,5?/3?,5? neuroactive steroids in mice, rats, Cynomolgus monkeys and humans. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. In Press

McCloskey, M., A.A. Palmer, H. de Wit Is self-reported liking of d-amphetamine related to impulsivity? Psychopharmacology. In Press

Hamidovic, A. A.M. Dlugos, A.A. Palmer, H, de Wit Sustained attention is associated with COMT val158met genotype in both the drug-free state and in response to amphetamine. Psychiatric Genetics. In Press 

Hamidovic, A., E. Childs, M. Conrad, A. King, H. de Wit (in press) Stress-induced changes in mood and cortisol release predict mood effects of amphetamine. Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Childs, E., H. de Wit (in press) Acute psychosocial stress increases cigarette craving and smoking pleasure. Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

Hamidovic, A. A.M. Dlugos, A.A. Palmer, H, de Wit (in press) Polymorphisms in dopamine transporter (SLC6A3) are associated with stimulant effects of d-amphetamine – an exploratory pharmacogenetic study using healthy volunteers. Behavior Genetics.