Social support and striatal dopaminergic activities: is there a connection?
OBJECTIVE
Although patients' social support is a critical factor for the prognosis of mental disorder treatments, biological mechanisms responsible for the impact of social support remain scarcely explored. We speculated that there may be an association between social support and central dopaminergic activities in humans.


METHODS
A total of 65 medicated patients with schizophrenia and their primary first-degree caregivers and 54 healthy volunteers were recruited for Studies 1 and 2, respectively. In Study 1, the extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) of medicated patients with schizophrenia and the social support scores of their caregivers were examined. In Study 2, the availability of striatal D(2)/D(3) receptors, dopamine transporters (DAT) and social support scores were measured in 54 healthy volunteers.


RESULTS
Study 1: the EPS scores of medicated patients with schizophrenia were negatively correlated with the social support scores of their relatives. Study 2: a positive correlation between the subjective social support scores and striatal DAT availability was noted.


CONCLUSIONS
The central dopaminergic activity may be linked to the sense of social support.
Yeh
Tzung Lieh
TL
Department of Psychiatry, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan 70403, Taiwan.
Lee
I Hui
IH
Chen
Po See
PS
Yu
Lung
L
Cheng
Shu Hui
SH
Yao
Wei Jen
WJ
Yang
Yen Kuang
YK
Lu
Ru Band
RB
Chiu
Nan Tsing
NT
D019797:3-Iodobenzylguanidine / Q000378:metabolism; D000328:Adult; D002746:Chlorpromazine / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D018492:Dopamine Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds / Q000378:metabolism; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012944:Social Support; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods; D014326:Tropanes / Q000378:metabolism
D018492:Dopamine Antagonists; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D014326:Tropanes; C104196:technetium Tc 99m TRODAT-1; D019797:3-Iodobenzylguanidine; D002746:Chlorpromazine; D004298:Dopamine