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Increased ventral striatal CB1 receptor binding is related to negative symptoms in drug-free patients with

Jenny Ceccarini1, Marc De Hert, Ruud Van Winkel

  • 1Division of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospitals Leuven & Department of Imaging and Pathology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. jenny.ceccarini@uzleuven.be

Neuroimage
|April 30, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Schizophrenia (SCZ) patients show altered cerebral cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor binding, particularly in the nucleus accumbens. In untreated SCZ patients, this alteration correlates with negative symptoms and depression.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychiatry
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Growing evidence implicates the cerebral cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor in schizophrenia (SCZ) pathogenesis and neural circuit dysfunction.
  • Interspecies differences in CB1 receptor expression necessitate in vivo human studies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate in vivo CB1 receptor expression in SCZ patients compared to healthy controls (CON).
  • To examine the relationship between CB1 receptor expression and psychopathological symptom severity in SCZ.

Main Methods:

  • Positron emission tomography (PET) with the radioligand [(18)F]MK-9470 was used to assess CB1 receptor binding.
  • Sixty-seven SCZ patients (treated and untreated) and 12 CON were studied.
  • Modified standardized uptake value (mSUV) images were analyzed and correlated with symptom severity.

Main Results:

  • SCZ patients exhibited significantly increased CB1 receptor binding in brain regions including the nucleus accumbens, insula, and cortex compared to CON.
  • In antipsychotic-naive SCZ patients, CB1 receptor binding negatively correlated with negative symptoms and depression scores, particularly in the nucleus accumbens.

Conclusions:

  • CB1 receptor binding is altered in the mesocorticolimbic circuitry of both treated and untreated SCZ patients.
  • Altered CB1 receptor binding in untreated SCZ patients is associated with negative symptoms and depression.

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