augmented dopamine release to methylphenidate stimulation of schizophrenia

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24791254
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Psychiatric science
• Research Institution: 独立行政法人国立精神・神経医療研究センター
• Principal Investigator: OTA Miho 独立行政法人国立精神・神経医療研究センター, 神経研究所 疾病研究第三部, 室長 (00582785)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
• Keywords: 核医学 / 統合失調症

Research Abstract

Previous studies demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia show greater sensitivity to psychostimulants than healthy subjects. Sensitization to psychostimulants and resultant alteration of dopaminergic neurotransmission have been suggested as a useful model of schizophrenia. This study was aimed to examine the use of methylphenidate as a psychostimulant to induce dopamine release and that of [18F]fallypride as a radioligand to estimate the dopamine release in a rat and marmoset model of schizophrenia. First year, we found that methylphenidate-induced striatal dopamine release increased in schizophrenic rats rather than healthy rats. Second year, we challenged the marmoset PET study for the evaluation of the density of dopamine D2 receptors using with [18F]fallypride to compare the dopamine release between schizophrenic marmoset and healthy subjects.