Striatal and Extrastriatal Dopamine Transporter Availability in Schizophrenia and Its Clinical Correlates: A Voxel-Based and High-Resolution PET Study.

Abstract

Neuroimaging studies investigating dopamine (DA) function widely support the hypothesis of presynaptic striatal DA hyperactivity in schizophrenia. However, published data on the striatal DA transporter (DAT) appear less consistent with this hypothesis, probably partly due to methodological limitations. Moreover, DAT in extrastriatal regions has been very poorly investigated in the context of schizophrenia. In order to address these issues, we used a high resolution positron emission tomograph and the selective DAT radioligand [11C]PE2I, coupled with a whole brain voxel-based analysis method to investigate DAT availability in striatal but also extra-striatal regions in 21 male chronic schizophrenia patients compared to 30 healthy male controls matched by age. We found higher DAT availability in schizophrenia patients in midbrain, striatal, and limbic regions. DAT availability in amygdala/hippocampus and putamen/pallidum was positively correlated with hallucinations and suspiciousness/persecution, respectively. These results are consistent with an increase of presynaptic DA function in patients with schizophrenia, and support the involvement of both striatal and extrastriatal DA dysfunction in positive psychotic symptoms. The study also highlights the whole brain voxel-based analysis method to explore DA dysfunction in schizophrenia.

• Authors: Eric Artiges, Claire Leroy, Manon Dubol, Marie Prat, Audrey Pepin, Audrey Mabondo, Renaud de Beaurepaire, Béatrice Beaufils, Jean-Pierre Korwin, André Galinowski, Marc-Antoine D'Albis, Maria-João Santiago-Ribeiro, Bernard Granger, Eleni T Tzavara, Jean-Luc Martinot, Christian Trichard
• Journal: Schizophrenia bulletin (Schizophr Bull) Vol. 43 Issue 5 Pg. 1134-1142 (09 01 2017) ISSN: 1745-1701 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 28177089 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: [email protected].

Chemical References

• Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins

Topics

• Adult
• Corpus Striatum (diagnostic imaging, metabolism)
• Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins (metabolism)
• Humans
• Limbic System (diagnostic imaging, metabolism)
• Male
• Mesencephalon (diagnostic imaging, metabolism)
• Positron-Emission Tomography (methods)
• Schizophrenia (diagnostic imaging, metabolism, physiopathology)
• Young Adult