Imaging endogenous dopamine competition with [11C]raclopride in the human brain

✍ Scribed by M.D. Nora D. Volkow; Gene-Jack Wang; Joanna S. Fowler; Jean Logan; David Schlyer; Robert Hitzemann; Jeffrey Lieberman; Burton Angrist; Naomi Pappas; Robert MacGregor; Gail Burr; Thomas Cooper; Alfred P. Wolf

• Book ID: 104600541
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 893 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0887-4476
• DOI: 10.1002/syn.890160402

✦ Synopsis

This study images dopamine release in response to a neurochemically specific challenge with the psychostimulant drug methylphenidate. Changes in synaptic dopamine induced by methylphenidate were evaluated with positron emission tomography and [llClraclopride, a D, receptor radioligand that is sensitive to endogenous dopamine. Methylphenidate significantly decreased striatal [llClraclopride binding. The decrease was variable and was negatively correlated with age. Mood and anxiety at baseline, were also correlated with methylphenidate-induced DA changes. This strategy provides a tool to investigate the responsiveness of the dopamine system in the normal and diseased human brain and to investigate the neurochemical correlates of behavior.