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Neuromelanin Magnetic Resonance Imaging Reveals Increased Dopaminergic Neuron Activity in the Substantia Nigra of Patients with Schizophrenia

PURPOSE: The dopamine hypothesis suggests that excessive dopamine release results in the symptoms of schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the dopaminergic and noradrenergic neurons using 3-T neuromelanin magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with schizophrenia and healthy...

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Autores principales: Watanabe, Yoshiyuki, Tanaka, Hisashi, Tsukabe, Akio, Kunitomi, Yuki, Nishizawa, Mitsuo, Hashimoto, Ryota, Yamamori, Hidenaga, Fujimoto, Michiko, Fukunaga, Masaki, Tomiyama, Noriyuki
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4128756/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25111500
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104619
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author Watanabe, Yoshiyuki
Tanaka, Hisashi
Tsukabe, Akio
Kunitomi, Yuki
Nishizawa, Mitsuo
Hashimoto, Ryota
Yamamori, Hidenaga
Fujimoto, Michiko
Fukunaga, Masaki
Tomiyama, Noriyuki
author_facet Watanabe, Yoshiyuki
Tanaka, Hisashi
Tsukabe, Akio
Kunitomi, Yuki
Nishizawa, Mitsuo
Hashimoto, Ryota
Yamamori, Hidenaga
Fujimoto, Michiko
Fukunaga, Masaki
Tomiyama, Noriyuki
author_sort Watanabe, Yoshiyuki
collection PubMed
description PURPOSE: The dopamine hypothesis suggests that excessive dopamine release results in the symptoms of schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the dopaminergic and noradrenergic neurons using 3-T neuromelanin magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with schizophrenia and healthy control subjects. METHODS: We prospectively examined 52 patients with schizophrenia (M: F = 27∶25, mean age, 35 years) and age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Using a 3T MRI unit, we obtained oblique T1-weighted axial images perpendicular to the brainstem. We measured the signal intensity and area for the substantia nigra (SNc), midbrain tegmentum, locus ceruleus (LC), and pons. We then calculated the contrast ratios (CR) for the SNc (CR(SN)) and LC (CR(LC)), which were compared between patients and healthy controls using unpaired t-tests. RESULTS: The SNc and LC were readily identified in both patients and healthy controls as areas with high signal intensities in the posterior part of the cerebral peduncle and in the upper pontine tegmentum. The CR(SN) values in patients were significantly higher than those in healthy controls (10.89±2.37 vs. 9.6±2.36, p<0.01). We observed no difference in the CR(LC) values between the patients and healthy controls (14.21±3.5 vs. 13.44±3.37, p = 0.25). Furthermore, there was no difference in area of the SNc and LC between schizophrenia patients and controls. CONCLUSIONS: Neuromelanin MRI might reveal increased signal intensity in the SNc of patients with schizophrenia. Our results indicate the presence of excessive dopamine products in the SNc of these patients.
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spelling pubmed-41287562014-08-12 Neuromelanin Magnetic Resonance Imaging Reveals Increased Dopaminergic Neuron Activity in the Substantia Nigra of Patients with Schizophrenia Watanabe, Yoshiyuki Tanaka, Hisashi Tsukabe, Akio Kunitomi, Yuki Nishizawa, Mitsuo Hashimoto, Ryota Yamamori, Hidenaga Fujimoto, Michiko Fukunaga, Masaki Tomiyama, Noriyuki PLoS One Research Article PURPOSE: The dopamine hypothesis suggests that excessive dopamine release results in the symptoms of schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the dopaminergic and noradrenergic neurons using 3-T neuromelanin magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with schizophrenia and healthy control subjects. METHODS: We prospectively examined 52 patients with schizophrenia (M: F = 27∶25, mean age, 35 years) and age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Using a 3T MRI unit, we obtained oblique T1-weighted axial images perpendicular to the brainstem. We measured the signal intensity and area for the substantia nigra (SNc), midbrain tegmentum, locus ceruleus (LC), and pons. We then calculated the contrast ratios (CR) for the SNc (CR(SN)) and LC (CR(LC)), which were compared between patients and healthy controls using unpaired t-tests. RESULTS: The SNc and LC were readily identified in both patients and healthy controls as areas with high signal intensities in the posterior part of the cerebral peduncle and in the upper pontine tegmentum. The CR(SN) values in patients were significantly higher than those in healthy controls (10.89±2.37 vs. 9.6±2.36, p<0.01). We observed no difference in the CR(LC) values between the patients and healthy controls (14.21±3.5 vs. 13.44±3.37, p = 0.25). Furthermore, there was no difference in area of the SNc and LC between schizophrenia patients and controls. CONCLUSIONS: Neuromelanin MRI might reveal increased signal intensity in the SNc of patients with schizophrenia. Our results indicate the presence of excessive dopamine products in the SNc of these patients. Public Library of Science 2014-08-11 /pmc/articles/PMC4128756/ /pubmed/25111500 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104619 Text en © 2014 Watanabe et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Watanabe, Yoshiyuki
Tanaka, Hisashi
Tsukabe, Akio
Kunitomi, Yuki
Nishizawa, Mitsuo
Hashimoto, Ryota
Yamamori, Hidenaga
Fujimoto, Michiko
Fukunaga, Masaki
Tomiyama, Noriyuki
Neuromelanin Magnetic Resonance Imaging Reveals Increased Dopaminergic Neuron Activity in the Substantia Nigra of Patients with Schizophrenia
title Neuromelanin Magnetic Resonance Imaging Reveals Increased Dopaminergic Neuron Activity in the Substantia Nigra of Patients with Schizophrenia
title_full Neuromelanin Magnetic Resonance Imaging Reveals Increased Dopaminergic Neuron Activity in the Substantia Nigra of Patients with Schizophrenia
title_fullStr Neuromelanin Magnetic Resonance Imaging Reveals Increased Dopaminergic Neuron Activity in the Substantia Nigra of Patients with Schizophrenia
title_full_unstemmed Neuromelanin Magnetic Resonance Imaging Reveals Increased Dopaminergic Neuron Activity in the Substantia Nigra of Patients with Schizophrenia
title_short Neuromelanin Magnetic Resonance Imaging Reveals Increased Dopaminergic Neuron Activity in the Substantia Nigra of Patients with Schizophrenia
title_sort neuromelanin magnetic resonance imaging reveals increased dopaminergic neuron activity in the substantia nigra of patients with schizophrenia
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4128756/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25111500
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104619
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