Striatal Dopamine Synthesis in First-degree Relatives of Patients with Schizophrenia

Background First degree relatives (FDR) of patients with schizophrenia have higher risk of developing schizophrenia than the general population. Previous positron emission tomography (PET) studies have shown that striatal presynaptic dopamine synthesis capacity is increased in schizophrenia. We investigated whether this same phenomenon is shared by individuals with increased genetic risk for schizophrenia. Methods We used 6-[18F]-fluorodopa (FDOPA) PET imaging to measure striatal dopamine synthesis capacity. We studied 17 nonpsychotic subjects with an FDR with schizophrenia. This group was compared to 17 healthy subjects with no FDRs with schizophrenia. Results A conventional region of interest (ROI)-analysis indicated that FDOPA uptake (Ki) in the caudate-putamen was statistically significantly higher in the FDR group than in the control group. A voxel-level analysis confirmed these results. Conclusions These results suggest that the changes of striatal presynaptic dopamine synthesis seen previously in neuroleptic-naive schizophrenic patients is also present in FDRs of patients with schizophrenia. These findings have implications for the early detection of psychosis as well as for pharmacological interventions in individuals at risk for psychosis.