Brain dopamine D1 receptor bindings in young adults with autism: a PET study

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25461760
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Psychiatric science
• Research Institution: Hamamatsu University School of Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Fujita Azusa 浜松医科大学, 医学部, 特任研究員 (50444352)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SUZUKI Katsuaki 浜松医科大学, 医学部, 准教授 (00285040) ; YOKOKURA Masamichi 浜松医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (00529399)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 自閉症 / ポジトロン断層法 / ドパミン系

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Our previous neuroimaging study using positron emission tomography (PET) indicated that dopamine transporter bindings were significantly higher in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) of adults with autism. In this study, we measured the binding of postsynaptic dopamine D1-like receptors with 11C-SCH23390 in the brain of twenty subjects with autism and twenty age- and sex-matched control subjects. Whole-brain voxel-based analyses as well as regions of interest-based methods for between-subject analysis and for within-subject correlation analysis with respect to clinical variables were examined.
Both voxel- and region of interest-based analyses revealed significantly higher 11C-SCH23390 binding potentials in the OFC in autism (corrected P < .05). There was no significant correlation between 11C-SCH23390 binding in the OFC and any of autistic symptoms evaluated.
Results support the contention that the dopaminergic dysregulation in the OFC can be observed in autism.

Free Research Field

精神医学