Brain imaging techniques for diagnosis and drugs against schizophrenia

✍ Scribed by Dr. Monte S. Buchsbaum

• Book ID: 102817491
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 834 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0272-4391
• DOI: 10.1002/ddr.430090107

✦ Synopsis

Buchsbaum, M.S.: Brain imaging techniques for diagnosis and drugs against schizophrenia. Drug Dev. Res. 953-62, 1986.

Positron emission tomography studies in schizophrenia have used two main approaches; metabolic imaging with deoxyglucose or glucose and dopamine receptor imaging with ligands for the dopamine receptor. The metabolic studies have generally shown relatively reduced metabolic rates in the frontal cortex, consistent with most studies of cerebral blood flow. Relatively low metabolic rates in the basal ganglia have also been observed in some studies. With labeled neuroleptics, brain images with the greatest uptake in the basal ganglia have been obtained, and clinical studies comparing normals and schizophrenics are still in progress. For both approaches, the problem of biological heterogeneity in schizophrenia must be fully considered so that PET can reach its full potential as a tool to develop new drugs, to select a particular drug for the individual patients, and ultimately to understand the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.