Professor of Behavioural Pharmacology,
University of Dundee,
Dundee, United Kingdom

David Balfour, PhD, is involved in a laboratory programme which focuses on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying drug dependence and depression. In the field of drug dependence, his primary research interest is the neurobiology underlying tobacco dependence. It is widely accepted that nicotine is the principal addictive component of tobacco smoke and that a majority of habitual smokers find it difficult to quit their habit because they have developed a strong dependence upon this drug. The working hypothesis of the current programme is that dependence is a consequence of neuroadaptations within the brain evoked by chronic or repeated exposure to an addictive drug.

Dr. Balfour’s studies focus on the ways in which chronic exposure to nicotine alters the way in which the monoamine projections to areas of the brain, such as the nucleus accumbens, hippocampus and frontal cortex, that have been implicated in the neurobiology underlying addiction. People with depression smoke more and are more heavily dependent upon tobacco than the general population. Additionally, nicotine withdrawal elicits anhedonia (an inability to respond to pleasurable stimuli), one of the primary symptoms of depression. His interest in the psychopathology of depression springs from a desire to seek to explain the role of depression as both a predisposing factor for addiction and as a symptom of drug withdrawal.

Dr. Balfour is a past President of the Society for Research in Nicotine and Tobacco and the current Editor-in-Chief of the Society’s journal, Nicotine & Tobacco Research.