Dopaminergic frontostriatal pathways in major depressive disorder and childhood sexual abuse: a multimodal neuroimaging investigation.

ABSTRACT: Dysregulated dopaminergic signaling has been implicated in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) and childhood sexual abuse (CSA), but inconsistencies abound. In a multimodal PET-functional MRI study, harnessing the highly selective tracer [¹¹C]altropane, we investigated dopamine transporter availability (DAT) and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) within reward-related regions among 112 unmedicated individuals (MDD: n = 37, MDD/CSA: n = 18; CSA no MDD: n = 14; controls: n = 43). Striatal DAT and seed-based rsFC were assessed in the dorsal and ventral striatum and the ventral tegmental area. We found that MDD, CSA, and their co-occurrence were associated with region-specific DAT abnormalities, which were related to the number of lifetime MDD episodes a

SUBMITTER: Borchers LR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12684067 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature