Brain dopamine D-2 receptors in senile dementia

Brain dopamine D-2 receptors were analysed in the caudate nucleus, putamen and nucleus accumbens in 49 patients with different types of neuropathologically verified dementia and in 39 controls by the binding of 3H-spiroperidol. The binding was significantly decreased in all brain areas in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), while the changes in patients with multi-infarct dementia (MID) or combined dementia (CD) were non-significant. According to a Scatchard analysis, this decrease in binding was due to the reduced number of receptors. On the other hand, the binding of 3H-spiroperidol was significantly increased in those patients who had received neuroleptic drugs. Significant correlations between 3H-spiroperidol binding and neuropathological changes were seen only in AD patients in the nucleus accumbens. The nucleus accumbens was also the only brain area in which there was a significant correlation between dopamine D-2 and the number of muscarinic receptors in AD patients. The findings of this study on dopamine D-2 receptors suggest the involvement of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system in AD but not in the other two major types of dementia.