Lower amygdala fatty acid amide hydrolase in violent offenders with antisocial personality disorder: an [¹¹C]CURB positron emission tomography study.

ABSTRACT: Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) imposes a high societal burden given the repetitive reactive aggression that affected individuals perpetrate. Since the brain endocannabinoid system (ECS) has been implicated in ASPD and aggressive behavior, we utilized [¹¹C]CURB positron emission tomography to investigate fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), an enzyme of the ECS that degrades anandamide, in 16 individuals with ASPD and 16 control participants. We hypothesized that FAAH density would be lower in the amygdala for several reasons. First, decreased FAAH expression is associated with increased cannabinoid receptor 1 stimulation, which may be responsible for amygdala hyper-reactivity in reactive aggression. Second, the amygdala is the seat of the neural circuit mediating reactive

SUBMITTER: Kolla NJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7814116 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature