A single photon emission computed tomography scan study of striatal dopamine D2 receptor binding with 123I-epidepride in patients with schizophrenia and controls.

The usefulness of 123I-epidepride as a single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scan D2 receptor ligand was examined in vivo in 13 medicated patients with schizophrenia and age- and sex-matched normal controls. To establish the effect of endogenous dopamine on 123I-epidepride binding, 4 of the 13 controls also received 20 mg D-amphetamine. The results showed that 123I-epidepride had high specific binding to the striatum in both patients with schizophrenia and normal controls. There was a trend for the total striatal binding of medicated patients with schizophrenia, as measured by total basal ganglia: frontal cortex (TBG:FC) ratios, to be less than the binding of controls (P = 0.053). This trend confirms previous work showing that antipsychotic medication decreases the number of D2 receptors available for binding to the radioligand. Interestingly, there was also a significant relationship between 123I-epidepride binding ratios and global functioning scales (Global Assessment of Functioning scale [GAF]) for schizophrenia (r = 0.56, P = 0.045), although there was no such relationship with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). In addition, our results showed that amphetamine-induced dopamine release did not alter 123I-epidepride binding, confirming the high specific binding of 123I-epidepride to the D2 receptor. We conclude that 123I-epidepride appears to be a very useful SPECT ligand for imaging the D2 receptor.