Elevation of Serum Dopamine and Ghrelin Levels Associated with Addiction-Linked Behaviours in e-Gamers in Malaysia

Abstract

There has been an increase in internet gaming, particularly online gaming which has affected addicted gamers' behaviour in various ways. Ghrelin plays a vital role in reward-based regulation by interacting with dopamine signaling in the mesolimbic circuit and neuroendocrine pathway. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the changes of serum dopamine and ghrelin levels as biomakers associated with addiction-linked behaviors in e-gamers and to determine the correlation between dopamine and ghrelin in e-gamers. There were 108 participants between 18-35 years old completed the survey. A total of 58 subjects were involved in blood sampling. There were 27 control, 18 excessive and 13 pathological according to the classification of gaming addiction scale (GAS). Competitive ELISA kits were used to determine both serum biomarkers, i.e. dopamine and ghrelin in both control and gamers. Graphpad Prism® was used to analyse the significance difference between control, excessive and pathological e-gamers by Tukey's test and correlation between ghrelin and dopamine was performed using Pearson's correlation test. Results obtained showed that the serum levels of ghrelin in both excessive and pathological e-gamers were significantly (p<0.0001) elevated compared with the control group. There was insignificant difference (p>0.05) in serum dopamine level was observed between control group and excessive e-gamers. However, a significant (p<0.0001) increase in serum dopamine level was seen in pathological e-gamers compared with the control group. As conclusion, this study demonstrates that serum dopamine and ghrelin levels are significantly associated with addiction-linked behaviours in e-gamers, as evidenced by the differences observed between e-gamers and the control group. These findings support the role of dopamine and ghrelin as potential biomarkers for assessing gaming-related addictive behaviours.

Keywords: Dopamine, Ghrelin, e-gamers, addiction, reward circuit.