18F-Fallypride binding potential in patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls

Lehrer, Douglas S.; Christian, Bradley T.; Kirbas, Cemil; Chiang, Meicheng; Sidhu, Shawn; Short, Holly; Wang, Binquan; Shi, Bingzhi; Chu, King-Wai; Merrill, Brian; Buchsbaum, Monte S.

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2010.03.043

« Previous Next »Schizophrenia Research
Volume 122, Issue 1 , Pages 43-52, September 2010

¹⁸F-Fallypride binding potential in patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls

Douglas S. Lehrer
- Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, c/o Department of Psychiatry, East Medical Plaza,1st Floor, 627 South Edwin C. Moses Blvd., Dayton, OH 45408, USA
- Boonshoft Schizophrenia Center for Research, Innovation Center at Kettering Health Network, 3535 Southern Blvd, Kettering, OH 45429, USA
- Corresponding author. Wright State University School of Medicine Boonshoft School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, East medical Plaza, 1st Floor, 627 S. Edwin C. Moses Blvd., Dayton, Ohio 45417, U.S.A. Tel.: +1 937 223 8840; fax +1 937 223 0758.
Bradley T. Christian
- Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI, 53705, USA
Cemil Kirbas
- Boonshoft Schizophrenia Center for Research, Innovation Center at Kettering Health Network, 3535 Southern Blvd, Kettering, OH 45429, USA
Meicheng Chiang
- Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, c/o Department of Psychiatry, East Medical Plaza,1st Floor, 627 South Edwin C. Moses Blvd., Dayton, OH 45408, USA
Shawn Sidhu
- Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, c/o Department of Psychiatry, East Medical Plaza,1st Floor, 627 South Edwin C. Moses Blvd., Dayton, OH 45408, USA
Holly Short
- Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, c/o Department of Psychiatry, East Medical Plaza,1st Floor, 627 South Edwin C. Moses Blvd., Dayton, OH 45408, USA
Binquan Wang
- Boonshoft Schizophrenia Center for Research, Innovation Center at Kettering Health Network, 3535 Southern Blvd, Kettering, OH 45429, USA
Bingzhi Shi
- Boonshoft Schizophrenia Center for Research, Innovation Center at Kettering Health Network, 3535 Southern Blvd, Kettering, OH 45429, USA
King-Wai Chu
- Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Imaging Data Evaluation and Analysis Laboratory (IDEAL), 425 East 61 Street, New York, NY 10065, USA
Brian Merrill
- Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, c/o Department of Psychiatry, East Medical Plaza,1st Floor, 627 South Edwin C. Moses Blvd., Dayton, OH 45408, USA
Monte S. Buchsbaum
- Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, c/o Department of Psychiatry, East Medical Plaza,1st Floor, 627 South Edwin C. Moses Blvd., Dayton, OH 45408, USA
- Boonshoft Schizophrenia Center for Research, Innovation Center at Kettering Health Network, 3535 Southern Blvd, Kettering, OH 45429, USA
- Departments of Psychiatry and Radiology, University of California, San Diego, NeuroPET Center, 11388 Sorento Valley Road, Suite #100, San Diego, CA 92121; Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior/University of California-Irvine (emeritus); Mount Sinai School of Medicine (adjunct), New York, USA

Received 24 November 2009; received in revised form 26 March 2010; accepted 30 March 2010. published online 26 July 2010.

Abstract

Background

Molecular imaging of dopaminergic parameters has contributed to the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia, expanding our understanding of pathophysiology, clinical phenomenology and treatment. Our aim in this study was to compare ¹⁸F-fallypride binding potential BP_ND in a group of patients with schizophrenia-spectrum illness vs. controls, with a particular focus on the cortex and thalamus.

Methods

We acquired ¹⁸F-fallypride positron emission tomography images on 33 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder (28 with schizophrenia; 5 with schizoaffective disorder) and 18 normal controls. Twenty-four patients were absolutely neuroleptic naïve and nine were previously medicated, although only four had a lifetime neuroleptic exposure of greater than two weeks. Parametric images of ¹⁸F-fallypride BP_ND were calculated to compare binding across subjects.

Results

Decreased BP_ND was observed in the medial dorsal nucleus of the thalamus, prefrontal cortex, lateral temporal lobe and primary auditory cortex. These findings were most marked in subjects who had never previously received medication.

Conclusions

The regions with decreased BP_ND tend to match brain regions previously reported to show alterations in metabolic activity and blood flow and areas associated with the symptoms of schizophrenia.

Keywords: Schizophrenia, Dopamine, Molecular imaging, Positron emission tomography, Thalamus, Cortex