No change in the density of the serotonin1A receptor, the serotonin4 receptor or the serotonin transporter in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex from subjects with schizophrenia

Authors

Brian Dean, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of MelbourneFollow
Eva Tomaskovic-Crook, University of WollongongFollow
Ken Opeskin, Mental Health Research Institute Victoria
N Keks, Mental Health Research Institute Victoria
David L. Copolov, Mental Health Research Institute Victoria

RIS ID

101149

Publication Details

Dean, B., Tomaskovic-Crook, E., Opeskin, K., Keks, N. & Copolov, D. (1999). No change in the density of the serotonin_1A receptor, the serotonin₄ receptor or the serotonin transporter in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex from subjects with schizophrenia. Neurochemistry International: the journal for the publication of cellular and molecular aspects of neurochemistry, 34 (2), 109-115.

Abstract

Changes in serotonin receptors and the serotonin transporter have been reported in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex from subjects with schizophrenia, an area of the brain thought to be important in the pathology of the illness. To further our understanding on how such changes could play a role in the pathology of the illness, in situ radioligand binding with autoradiography was used to measure the density of the serotonin_1A receptor, the serotonin4 receptor and the serotonin transporter in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, obtained at autopsy, from 10 schizophrenic and 10 control subjects. The binding of [³H]8-OH-DPAT to serotonin_1A receptor, [³H]GR113808 to the 5HT₄ receptor and [³H]citalopram to serotonin transporter was not altered in subjects with schizophrenia. Significantly, only in tissue from the control subjects was there a relationship between age and the density of the serotonin₄ receptor in Brodmann's areas 8 (r = 0.71, P = 0.02) and 10 (r = -0.67, P = 0.03). Importantly, this confounding factor did not influence the comparison of the density of serotonin4 receptor in the tissue from the schizophrenic and control subjects.

This study has failed to show a difference in the density of serotonin_1A receptor, the serotonin₄ receptor or the serotonin transporter in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann's areas 8, 9 and 10) from subjects with schizophrenia. These data suggest that not all serotonergic markers are altered in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex from schizophrenic subjects.