Higher striatal dopamine transporter density in PTSD: an in vivo SPECT study with [99mTc]TRODAT-1

Rationale Some evidence suggests a hyperdopaminergic state in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The 9-repetition allele (9R) located in the 3′ untranslated region of the dopamine transporter (DAT) gene (SLC6A3) is more frequent among PTSD patients. In vivo molecular imaging studies have shown th...

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Published in:Psychopharmacologia 2012-11, Vol.224 (2), p.337-345
Main Authors: Hoexter, Marcelo Q., Fadel, Gustavo, Felício, André C., Calzavara, Mariana B., Batista, Ilza R., Reis, Marilia A., Shih, Ming C., Pitman, Roger K., Andreoli, Sérgio B., Mello, Marcelo F., Mari, Jair J., Bressan, Rodrigo A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Anxiety disorders. Neuroses
Arousal
Biological and medical sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Computed tomography
Corpus Striatum - diagnostic imaging
Corpus Striatum - metabolism
Cortex (occipital)
Density
Depression
Dopamine
Dopamine - metabolism
Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins - metabolism
Dopamine transporter
Fear
Female
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Mood disorders
Motivation
Neostriatum
Neuroimaging
Neurosciences
Organotechnetium Compounds
Original Investigation
Pharmacology/Toxicology
Post traumatic stress disorder
Potentiation
Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Radiopharmaceuticals
Single photon emission computed tomography
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnostic imaging
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - metabolism
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - physiopathology
Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
Tropanes
Young Adult
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Summary:Rationale Some evidence suggests a hyperdopaminergic state in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The 9-repetition allele (9R) located in the 3′ untranslated region of the dopamine transporter (DAT) gene (SLC6A3) is more frequent among PTSD patients. In vivo molecular imaging studies have shown that healthy 9R carriers have increased striatal DAT binding. However, no prior study evaluated in vivo striatal DAT density in PTSD. Objectives The objective of this study was to evaluate in vivo striatal DAT density in PTSD. Methods Twenty-one PTSD subjects and 21 control subjects, who were traumatized but asymptomatic, closely matched comparison subjects evaluated with the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale underwent a single-photon emission computed tomography scan with [ 99m TC]-TRODAT-1. DAT binding potential (DAT-BP) was calculated using the striatum as the region of the interest and the occipital cortex as a reference region. Results PTSD patients had greater bilateral striatal DAT-BP (mean ± SD; left, 1.80 ± 0.42; right, 1.78 ± 0.40) than traumatized control subjects (left, 1.62 ± 0.32; right, 1.61 ± 0.31; p  = 0.039 for the left striatum and p  = 0.032 for the right striatum). Conclusions These results provide the first in vivo evidence for increased DAT density in PTSD. Increases in DAT density may reflect higher dopamine turnover in PTSD, which could contribute to the perpetuation and potentiation of exaggerated fear responses to a given event associated with the traumatic experience. Situations that resemble the traumatic event turn to be interpreted as highly salient (driving attention, arousal, and motivation) in detriment of other daily situations.
ISSN:0033-3158
1432-2072
DOI:10.1007/s00213-012-2755-4