title: Elevated Striatal Dopamine Function in Immigrants and Their Children: A Risk Mechanism for Psychosis.
abstract: Migration is a major risk factor for schizophrenia but the neurochemical processes involved are unknown. One candidate mechanism is through elevations in striatal dopamine synthesis and release. The objective of this research was to determine whether striatal dopamine function is elevated in immigrants compared to nonimmigrants and the relationship with psychosis. Two complementary case-control studies of in vivo dopamine function (stress-induced dopamine release and dopamine synthesis capacity) in immigrants compared to nonimmigrants were performed in Canada and the United Kingdom. The Canadian dopamine release study included 25 immigrant and 31 nonmigrant Canadians. These groups included 23 clinical high risk (CHR) subjects, 9 antipsychotic naïve patients with schizophrenia, and 24 healthy volunteers. The UK dopamine synthesis study included 32 immigrants and 44 nonimmigrant British. These groups included 50 CHR subjects and 26 healthy volunteers. Both striatal stress-induced dopamine release and dopamine synthesis capacity were significantly elevated in immigrants compared to nonimmigrants, independent of clinical status. These data provide the first evidence that the effect of migration on the risk of developing psychosis may be mediated by an elevation in brain dopamine function.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.|These authors are joint first authors.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Egerton
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.|These authors are joint first authors.
authors.forename: Oliver D
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Howes
authors.affiliation: Research Imaging Center, CAMH, PET Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.|Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.|Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.|These authors are joint first authors.
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Houle
authors.affiliation: Research Imaging Center, CAMH, PET Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.|Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Kwame
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McKenzie
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Lucia R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Valmaggia
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.|Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.|Department of Psychology, University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Bagby
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.|Research Imaging Center, CAMH, PET Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Huai-Hsuan
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.|Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, UK.|Psychiatric Imaging Group, MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Michael A P
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bloomfield
authors.affiliation: Research Imaging Center, CAMH, PET Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Miran
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kenk
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Sagnik
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhattacharyya
authors.affiliation: Research Imaging Center, CAMH, PET Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Ivonne
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Suridjan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Chistopher A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Chaddock
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Toby T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Winton-Brown
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.|Department of Psychology, Whitelands College, University of Roehampton, London, UK.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Research Imaging Center, CAMH, PET Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.|Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rusjan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.|Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Remington
authors.affiliation: Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg/Medical Faculty Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meyer-Lindenberg
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.|These authors are joint last authors.
authors.forename: Philip K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: McGuire
authors.affiliation: Research Imaging Center, CAMH, PET Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.|Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.|Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.|These authors are joint last authors.
authors.forename: Romina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mizrahi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017072:Neostriatum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D012306:Risk; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D006113:United Kingdom; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004298:Dopamine
keywords: positron emission tomography; schizophrenia; stress