TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2013//
TI  - Decreased brainstem and putamen sert binding potential in depressed suicide attempters using [(11) c]-zient pet imaging
JO  - Depression and anxiety
A1  - Nye, Jonathon A.
A1  - Purselle, David
A1  - Plisson, Christophe
A1  - Voll, Ronald J.
A1  - Stehouwer, Jeffrey S.
A1  - Votaw, John R.
A1  - Kilts, Clinton D.
A1  - Goodman, Mark M.
A1  - Nemeroff, Charles B.
SP  - 902
EP  - 907
VL  - 30
IS  - 10
N2  - BACKGROUND: Deficits in serotonergic neurotransmission have been implicated in the pathogenesis of depression and suicidality. The present study utilized a novel positron-emission tomography (PET) ligand to quantitate and compare brain regional serotonin transporter (SERT) binding potential in depressed patients with a past history of suicide attempts to that of healthy comparison subjects. METHOD: We used [(11) C]-ZIENT PET to label SERT in the serotonergic cell body rich brainstem, and forebrain projection fields. Quantitative PET emission data from 21 adults (10 healthy controls and 11 drug-free patients with major depression) was used for group comparison. SERT binding potential (BPND ) in eight MRI-based brain regions of interest (ROI) were compared in high-resolution PET images. RESULTS: SERT binding potential was significantly decreased in the midbrain/pons (P = .029) and putamen (P = .04) of depressed patients with a past suicide attempt relative to comparison subjects. Forebrain SERT binding was also reduced in the patient sample, though these region effects did not survive a multiple comparison correction. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that decreased availability of the brainstem and basal ganglia SERT represents a biomarker of depression and thus confirm and extend the role of dysregulation of brain serotonergic neurotransmission in the pathophysiology of depression and suicide.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1091-4269
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/da.22049
ID  - ref1
ER  -