Do Antipsychotic Agents Induce Supersensitivity in Humans: A Combined PET/MRI Study in Patients With Schizophrenia

This project will study for the first time in humans, whether long-term treatment with antipsychotic agents, representing nowadays gold standard for patients with schizophrenia, may lead to an up regulation of dopamine D2-like receptors and associated, a supersensitivity of these receptors. The detection of such changes and the study of influencing factors (in particular smoking and type of medication) are most important for the understanding of relapse risks, development of treatment resistance and the risks for motor complications of antipsychotic pharmacotherapy. This monocentric, controlled study will include 140 participants over a time period of three years. 30 healthy volunteers, 20 first-episode, drug-naive patients with schizophrenia and 90 pretreated patients with schizophrenia will undergo a single PET/MR measurement.