Imaging Microglial Activation in Untreated First-Episode Psychosis: A PET Study With [¹⁸F]FEPPA.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Neuroinflammation and abnormal immune responses are increasingly implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Previous positron emission tomography (PET) studies targeting the translocator protein 18 kDa (TSPO) have been limited by high nonspecific binding of the first-generation radioligand, low-resolution scanners, small sample sizes, and psychotic patients being on antipsychotics or not being in the first episode of their illness. The present study uses the novel second-generation TSPO PET radioligand [¹⁸F]FEPPA to evaluate whether microglial activation is elevated in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of untreated patients with first-episode psychosis.

Method

Nineteen untreated patients with first-episode psychosis (14 of them

SUBMITTER: Hafizi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5342628 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature