Department of Neuropsychopharmacology and Molecular Imaging, Imperial College London, London, UK.
J Psychopharmacol. 2011 Jul;25(7):952-9. doi: 10.1177/0269881110389207. Epub 2010 Dec 8.
The role of the serotonin (5-HT) system in the neurobiology and treatment of panic disorder (PD) remains unproven. Previously we detected lower brain 5-HT transporter (SERT) availability in PD, but the findings were preliminary and mainly limited to female patients. The aim of this study was to assess non-displaceable brain SERT binding potential (BP (ND)) in male and female patients with PD. The SERT BP (ND) was measured in groups of patients with PD (five males and six females) and matched healthy control subjects (12 males and 12 females) using positron emission tomography (PET) and [¹¹C]MADAM tracer. SERT BP (ND) were significantly higher in 13 of 20 studied brain regions, including several cortical and raphe areas, but lower in the hippocampus in males with PD as compared with healthy males. No significant differences in SERT BP (ND) were observed between female patients and controls. The results suggest gender-dependent regional differences in brain SERT availability and converge with previous PET findings of reduced 5-HT(1A) receptor binding in similar brain areas in PD. Distinctive functioning of the 5-HT system in males and females may underlie certain gender-dependent differences in expressions of PD.
5-羟色胺（5-HT）系统在惊恐障碍（PD）的神经生物学和治疗中的作用仍未得到证实。此前，我们在 PD 患者中检测到较低的大脑 5-HT 转运体（SERT）可利用度，但这些发现尚属初步，且主要限于女性患者。本研究旨在评估男性和女性 PD 患者的非置换性脑 SERT 结合潜能（BP（ND））。使用正电子发射断层扫描（PET）和 [¹¹C]MADAM 示踪剂，在 PD 患者组（五名男性和六名女性）和匹配的健康对照组（十二名男性和十二名女性）中测量 SERT BP（ND）。与健康男性相比，PD 男性的 20 个研究脑区中有 13 个脑区的 SERT BP（ND）显著升高，包括几个皮质和中缝核区，但海马体的 SERT BP（ND）降低。女性患者与对照组之间的 SERT BP（ND）无显著差异。这些结果表明，大脑 SERT 可利用度存在性别依赖性的区域差异，与 PD 中类似脑区的 5-HT（1A）受体结合减少的先前 PET 研究结果一致。5-HT 系统在男性和女性中的不同功能可能是 PD 某些性别依赖性差异的基础。
