Quantitative dopamine imaging in humans using magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography

<p>Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter that is involved in several human functions such as reward, cognition, emotions and movement. Abnormalities of the neurotransmitter itself, or the dopamine receptors through which it exerts its actions, contribute to a wide range of psychiatric and...

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Main Author: Tziortzi, A
Other Authors: Gunn, R
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
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author Tziortzi, A
author2 Gunn, R
author_facet Gunn, R
Tziortzi, A
author_sort Tziortzi, A
collection OXFORD
description <p>Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter that is involved in several human functions such as reward, cognition, emotions and movement. Abnormalities of the neurotransmitter itself, or the dopamine receptors through which it exerts its actions, contribute to a wide range of psychiatric and neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia. Thus far, despite the great interest and extensive research, the exact role of dopamine and the causalities of dopamine related disorders are not fully understood.</p> <p>Here we have developed multimodal imaging methods, to investigate the release of dopamine and the distribution of the dopamine D2-like receptor family <em>in-vivo</em> in healthy humans. We use the [<sup>11</sup>C]PHNO PET ligand, which enables exploration of dopamine-related parameters in striatal regions, and for the first time in extrastriatal regions, that are known to be associated with distinctive functions and disorders. Our methods involve robust approaches for the manual and automated delineation of these brain regions, in terms of structural and functional organisation, using information from structural and diffusion MRI images. These data have been combined with [<sup>11</sup>C]PHNO PET data for quantitative dopamine imaging.</p> <p>Our investigation has revealed the distribution and the relative density of the D3R and D2R sites of the dopamine D2-like receptor family, in healthy humans. In addition, we have demonstrated that the release of dopamine has a functional rather than a structural specificity and that the relative densities of the D3R and D2R sites do not drive this specificity. We have also shown that the dopamine D3R receptor is primarily distributed in regions that have a central role in reward and addiction. A finding that supports theories that assigns a primarily limbic role to the D3R.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:26b8b4c2-0237-4c40-8c84-9ae818a0dabf2024-12-01T19:17:34ZQuantitative dopamine imaging in humans using magnetic resonance and positron emission tomographyThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:26b8b4c2-0237-4c40-8c84-9ae818a0dabfNeuroscienceNeurologyCognitive NeuroscienceBehavioural NeuroscienceEmotionEmotion researchAnatomyPsychopharmacologyEnglishOxford University Research Archive - Valet2014Tziortzi, AGunn, RMark, J<p>Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter that is involved in several human functions such as reward, cognition, emotions and movement. Abnormalities of the neurotransmitter itself, or the dopamine receptors through which it exerts its actions, contribute to a wide range of psychiatric and neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia. Thus far, despite the great interest and extensive research, the exact role of dopamine and the causalities of dopamine related disorders are not fully understood.</p> <p>Here we have developed multimodal imaging methods, to investigate the release of dopamine and the distribution of the dopamine D2-like receptor family <em>in-vivo</em> in healthy humans. We use the [<sup>11</sup>C]PHNO PET ligand, which enables exploration of dopamine-related parameters in striatal regions, and for the first time in extrastriatal regions, that are known to be associated with distinctive functions and disorders. Our methods involve robust approaches for the manual and automated delineation of these brain regions, in terms of structural and functional organisation, using information from structural and diffusion MRI images. These data have been combined with [<sup>11</sup>C]PHNO PET data for quantitative dopamine imaging.</p> <p>Our investigation has revealed the distribution and the relative density of the D3R and D2R sites of the dopamine D2-like receptor family, in healthy humans. In addition, we have demonstrated that the release of dopamine has a functional rather than a structural specificity and that the relative densities of the D3R and D2R sites do not drive this specificity. We have also shown that the dopamine D3R receptor is primarily distributed in regions that have a central role in reward and addiction. A finding that supports theories that assigns a primarily limbic role to the D3R.</p>
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Neurology
Cognitive Neuroscience
Behavioural Neuroscience
Emotion
Emotion research
Anatomy
Psychopharmacology
Tziortzi, A
Quantitative dopamine imaging in humans using magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography
title Quantitative dopamine imaging in humans using magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography
title_full Quantitative dopamine imaging in humans using magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography
title_fullStr Quantitative dopamine imaging in humans using magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography
title_full_unstemmed Quantitative dopamine imaging in humans using magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography
title_short Quantitative dopamine imaging in humans using magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography
title_sort quantitative dopamine imaging in humans using magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography
topic Neuroscience
Neurology
Cognitive Neuroscience
Behavioural Neuroscience
Emotion
Emotion research
Anatomy
Psychopharmacology
work_keys_str_mv AT tziortzia quantitativedopamineimaginginhumansusingmagneticresonanceandpositronemissiontomography