Neuroleptic therapy influences basal ganglia activation: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study comparing controls to haloperidol- and olanzapine-treated inpatients.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a non-invasive technique for mapping the working brain. Using a fingertapping task, imaging of subcortical regions has proven to be difficult. We studied an inpatient under treatment with olanzapine and haloperidol, focusing on subcortical brain activation. We compared this patient with normal controls and with patients using haloperidol or olanzapine. Brain activation was induced by a unilateral self-paced fingertapping task. Brainvoyager software package (version 3.7) was used for data analyzing. Significant increases in blood oxygen level-dependent response were found in the contralateral motor area and the ipsilateral cerebellum in all patients. Differences with regard to the subcortical regions could be revealed in both the examinations of the same patient and the different treatment groups. Functional magnetic resonance imaging is an important method to study the interaction between basal ganglia, thalamus and the motor cortex. It is especially helpful to investigate intra-individual differences under different treatment conditions.