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Elevated brain serotonin transporter availability in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Oliver Pogarell1, Christine Hamann, Gabriele Pöpperl
1Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
Biological Psychiatry
|December 17, 2003
Summary
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients show higher serotonin transporter availability in the brain compared to healthy individuals. This suggests a central serotonergic dysfunction contributes to OCD pathophysiology.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Radiology
Background:
- Central serotonergic dysfunction is implicated in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) pathophysiology.
- Investigating serotonin transporter (SERT) availability offers an in vivo marker for the central serotonergic system in OCD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine serotonin transporter availability in unmedicated patients with OCD.
- To utilize [123I]beta-CIT SPECT imaging as a tool to assess SERT availability.
Main Methods:
- Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) using [123I]beta-CIT was performed on 9 unmedicated OCD patients and 10 healthy controls.
- Brain serotonin transporter availability was measured using the specific-to-nonspecific binding ratio in the midbrain-pons.
Main Results:
- OCD patients exhibited a 25% higher midbrain-pons [123I]beta-CIT binding ratio compared to controls (p <.01).
- This difference remained significant after adjusting for clinical variables, age, and gender.
- Early-onset OCD patients showed significant differences in binding compared to controls, unlike late-onset patients.
Conclusions:
- The findings provide evidence for serotonergic dysfunction in OCD patients.
- A serotonergic component is suggested to be involved in the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder.