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In vivo snapshots of the dopaminergic synapse in small animals

Molecular Psychiatry volume 10, pages 516–518 (2005)Cite this article

In the last two decades, functional imaging methods such as positron (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) have emerged as valuable tools to study the dopaminergic synapse in vivo. Investigations of dopamine transporter (DAT) and dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) binding have yielded evidence that various neurological and psychiatric conditions such as Parkinson's disease,1, 2, 3 schizophrenia,4 depression,5, 6 attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder,7 and drug abuse8 are related to dysfunctions of the dopaminergic system.

Disturbances of dopaminergic neurotransmission among other factors may be due to changes in concentrations of synaptic dopamine and/or availabilities of pre- and postsynaptic transporter or receptor binding sites. Numerous in vivo findings suggest an interrelation between synaptic neurotransmitter concentrations and densities of pre- and postsynaptic binding sites. So it was demonstrated in patients with Parkinson's disease that the degeneration of the nigostriatal pathway leads to a decrease of available dopamine, which in turn leads to a reduction of striatal DAT density1 and compensatory upregulations of postsynaptic D2R binding sites in the early stage of disease.2 In later stages, also postsynaptically, reductions of D2R binding become apparent.3 Similarly, in vivo studies indicate both a decrease of DAT5 and an increase of D2R binding in depressive patients.6 A further example is the effect of synaptic dopamine on postsynaptic D2R binding upon challenge with psychostimulants such as methylphenidate: Volkow and collaborators8 demonstrated that this substance blocks the presynaptic DAT with the resulting increase of synaptic dopamine leading to a reduction of free postsynaptic D2R.

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  1. Clinic of Nuclear Medicine, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany

    S Nikolaus, M Beu, A Wirrwar, C Antke & H-W Müller

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  1. S Nikolaus
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  2. M Beu
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Correspondence to H-W Müller.

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Nikolaus, S., Beu, M., Wirrwar, A. et al. In vivo snapshots of the dopaminergic synapse in small animals. Mol Psychiatry 10, 516–518 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001693

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