Striatal dopamine synthesis capacity in twins discordant for schizophrenia
| Autor: | Oliver D. Howes, Sheena Owens, Robin M. Murray, Marco Picchioni, Timothea Toulopoulou, Paul R. A. Stokes, Subrata K. Bose, Paul Shotbolt |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2011 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Psychosis medicine.medical_specialty Dopamine Internal medicine Diseases in Twins medicine Humans Applied Psychology Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale Case-control study Human brain Middle Aged medicine.disease Twin study Corpus Striatum Pathophysiology Psychiatry and Mental health Endocrinology medicine.anatomical_structure Schizophrenia Case-Control Studies Positron-Emission Tomography Female Psychology Neuroscience Biomarkers medicine.drug |
| Zdroj: | Psychological Medicine. 41:2331-2338 |
| ISSN: | 1469-8978 0033-2917 |
| DOI: | 10.1017/s0033291711000341 |
| Popis: | BackgroundElevated striatal dopamine synthesis capacity is thought to be fundamental to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and has also been reported in people at risk of psychosis. It is therefore unclear if striatal hyperdopaminergia is a vulnerability marker for schizophrenia, or a state feature related to the psychosis itself. Relatives of patients with schizophrenia are themselves at increased risk of developing the condition. In this study we examined striatal dopamine synthesis capacity in both members of twin pairs discordant for schizophrenia.MethodIn vivo striatal dopamine synthesis capacity was examined using fluorine-18-l-dihydroxyphenylalanine (18F-DOPA) positron emission tomography (PET) scans in seven twin pairs discordant for schizophrenia and in a control sample of 10 healthy control twin pairs.ResultsStriatal 18F-DOPA uptake was not elevated in the unaffected co-twins of patients with schizophrenia (p=0.65) or indeed in the twins with schizophrenia (p=0.89) compared to the control group. Levels of psychotic symptoms were low in the patients with schizophrenia who were in general stable [mean (s.d.) Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total=56.8 (25.5)] whereas the unaffected co-twins were largely asymptomatic.ConclusionsStriatal dopamine synthesis capacity is not elevated in symptom-free individuals at genetic risk of schizophrenia, or in well-treated stable patients with chronic schizophrenia. These findings suggest that striatal hyperdopaminergia is not a vulnerability marker for schizophrenia. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|