Personality Linked to Certain Brain Cells

German and Canadian researchers say they have identified a link between a personality trait and the concentration of a receptor cell in the human brain.

The scientists — from Johannes Gutenberg-University, Aachen University and the Technical University in Germany, along with McGill University researchers in Canada — studied 23 men with no history of alcohol or drug addiction.

The researchers first determined the men’s level of four basic personality traits: novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence and persistence. Then, the researchers gave the men a chemical that binds to cells in the brain that strongly respond to opiates, or compounds similar to heroin or morphine.

Using positron emission tomography, or PET scanning, the researchers determined the concentration of opiate receptor cells in the ventral striatum — an area of the brain known to be a central part of the reward system — was closely related to the individual’s degree of reward dependence. Participants with a high need to feel rewarded by social approval were also those with the highest concentration of opiate receptors.

The authors say their finding will help identify those most at risk for developing addictions.

The study appears in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.