L-3,4-Dihydroxy-6-[F-18]fluorophenylalanine positron emission tomography demonstrating dopaminergic system abnormality in the brains of obsessive-compulsive disorder patients

Hung Jen Hsieh, Kun Han Lue, Hsin Chi Tsai, Chau Chin Lee, Shin Yuan Chen, Pan Fu Kao*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Aim Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic disabling neuropsychiatric disorder. Current treatment modalities, such as pharmacological and behavioral methods, are sometimes unsatisfactory. The mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway is supposed to have a role in the pathogenesis of OCD. In this study, L-3,4-Dihydroxy-6-[F-18]fluorophenylalanine (F-18 FDOPA) positron emission tomography (PET) is exploited to investigate the possible abnormality of dopaminergic neuronal circuits in the brains of OCD patients in vivo. Methods The study subjects were recruited after psychological assessment and gave written informed consent to participate. The F-18 FDOPA PET scans were performed on five OCD patients and six healthy volunteers at 120 min after 185 MBq of F-18 FDOPA intravenous injection. The PET results were analyzed with the Statistical Parametric Mapping tool. Results Compared to the healthy subjects, the OCD brains showed increased dopaminergic metabolism in the left frontal premotor cortex (P < 0.001), along with trends toward an increase in the left posterior cingulate gyrus, the left cuneus, the left lingual gyrus, the right cuneus and precuneus, the right lingual gyrus, the right middle temporal gyrus, the left cerebellum, and the right cerebellum (P < 0.01). Conclusion Our observations suggest that the increased dopaminergic neuronal function in these brain areas may be implicated in the pathogenesis of OCD.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)292-298
Number of pages7
JournalPsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences
Volume68
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 04 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • L-3,4-Dihydroxy-6-[F-18]fluorophenylalanine
  • obsessive-compulsive disorder
  • positron emission tomography

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