title: Striatal dopamine synthesis in first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huttunen
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heinimaa
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Svirskis
authors.forename: Mikko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nyman
authors.forename: Jaana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kajander
authors.forename: Sarita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Forsback
authors.forename: Olof
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Solin
authors.forename: Tuula
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ilonen
authors.forename: Jyrki
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Korkeila
authors.forename: Terja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ristkari
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McGlashan
authors.forename: Raimo K R
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Salokangas
authors.forename: Jarmo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hietala
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D004295:Dihydroxyphenylalanine / Q000378:metabolism; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D004295:Dihydroxyphenylalanine; D004298:Dopamine