A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Striatal dopamine synthesis in first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia
Authors: Jukka Huttunen 1 , Markus Heinimaa, Tanja Svirskis, Mikko Nyman, Jaana Kajander, Sarita Forsback, Olof Solin, Tuula Ilonen, Jyrki Korkeila, Terja Ristkari, Thomas McGlashan, Raimo K R Salokangas, Jarmo Hietala
Publisher: Elsevier
Publication year: 2008
Journal acronym: Biol Psychiatry
Volume: 63
Issue: 1
First page : 114
Last page: 117
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.04.017.
Background: First degree relatives (FDR) of patients with schizophrenia have higher risk of developing schizophrenia than the general population. Previous positron emission tomography (PET) studies have shown that striatal presynaptic dopamine synthesis capacity is increased in schizophrenia. We investigated whether this same phenomenon is shared by individuals with increased genetic risk for schizophrenia.
Methods: We used 6-[18F]-fluorodopa (FDOPA) PET imaging to measure striatal dopamine synthesis capacity. We studied 17 nonpsychotic subjects with an FDR with schizophrenia. This group was compared to 17 healthy subjects with no FDRs with schizophrenia.
Results: A conventional region of interest (ROI)-analysis indicated that FDOPA uptake (K(i)) in the caudate-putamen was statistically significantly higher in the FDR group than in the control group. A voxel-level analysis confirmed these results.
Conclusions: These results suggest that the changes of striatal presynaptic dopamine synthesis seen previously in neuroleptic-naive schizophrenic patients is also present in FDRs of patients with schizophrenia. These findings have implications for the early detection of psychosis as well as for pharmacological interventions in individuals at risk for psychosis.
