Schizophrenia Research
Volume 56, Issue 1 , Pages 31-36, 1 July 2002

Typical antipsychotic drugs — D2 receptor occupancy and depressive symptoms in schizophrenia☆

  • Rodrigo A Bressan

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +44-2078480807 fax: +44-2078480051
    • ,
  • Durval C Costa

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Nuclear Medicine, University College of London Medical School, Mortimer St, London W1N 8AA, UK
    • ,
  • Hugh M Jones

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK
    • ,
  • Peter J Ell

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Nuclear Medicine, University College of London Medical School, Mortimer St, London W1N 8AA, UK
    • ,
  • Lyn S Pilowsky

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK
    • Institute of Nuclear Medicine, University College of London Medical School, Mortimer St, London W1N 8AA, UK

Received 29 October 2000; accepted 1 February 2001.

Abstract 

We tested the hypothesis that the degree of striatal dopamine D2 receptor blockade induced by typical antipsychotic treatment directly correlates with the presence and severity of depressive symptoms in schizophrenia. Clinical and [123I]-IBZM single-photon emission tomography (SPET) scan data obtained from 18 typical antipsychotic treated schizophrenic patients was analysed to evaluate the relationship between striatal D2 receptor occupancy and the depressive subscale of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-D). Striatal D2 receptor occupancy by typical antipsychotic drugs was significantly positively correlated with BPRS-D scores (r=0.52, p=0.025). This study suggests that high striatal dopamine D2 blockade by typical antipsychotic drugs may contribute to the emergence of depressive symptoms in typical antipsychotic treated schizophrenic patients.

Keywords:  Schizophrenia, Depression, Dopamine, D2 receptors, Single photon emission tomography

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☆ Oral presentation at the Society of Biological Psychiatry 55th Annual Convention, Chicago, Illinois, May 11–13, 2000 (Biol Psychiatry 2000; 47(8):128S). A Letter to the Editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry commenting a paper (De Haan et al., 2000) is in press.

PII: S0920-9964(01)00185-2

doi:10.1016/S0920-9964(01)00185-2

Schizophrenia Research
Volume 56, Issue 1 , Pages 31-36, 1 July 2002

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