Cannabinoid type 1 receptor (CB1R), as the major member of the endocannabinoid system, is among the most abundant receptors expressed in the central nervous system. CB1R is mainly located on the axon terminals of presynaptic neurons and participate in the modulation of neuronal excitability and synaptic plasticity, playing an important role in the pathogenesis of various neuropsychiatric diseases. In recent years, the consistent development of CB1R radioligands and the maturity of molecular imaging techniques, particularly positron emission tomography (PET) may help to visualize the expression and distribution of CB1R in central nervous system . At present, CB1R PET imaging can effectively evaluate the changes of CB1R levels in neuropsychiatric diseases such as Huntington's disease and schizophrenia, and its correlation with the disease severity, therefore providing new insights for the diagnosis and treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases. This article reviews the application of CB1R PET imaging in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, cannabis use disorder and depression.
Cannabinoids ; Humans ; Mental Disorders/diagnostic imaging* ; Neurodegenerative Diseases/diagnostic imaging* ; Neurons ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Receptor, Cannabinoid, CB1

OBJECTIVES: Many recent studies of relationship between geriatric depression and changes in brain have examined the structural abnormalities in hippocampus. Using MRI, the hippocampal volumes of patients with major depression were measured and compared with control subjects for research of above relationship. METHOD: Fourteen patients (early-onset five, late-onset nine) with major depressive disorder based on DSM-IV and fourteen age-matched normal controls are included. Applying semiautomated computer program to MRI, we measured and compared the hippocampal volumes in two groups. Moreover we identified the laterality and the correlation of the volumes with age of onset, duration of education, numbers of psychiatric admission, duration of illness, MMSE scores at admission, and severity of depression. RESULT: No significant difference was observed between the hippocampal volumes of patients with major depressive disorder and those of control subjects. A significant correlation in patients was observed between duration of illness and left hippocampal volume to cerebral volume ratio. In early-onset depressed patients, left hippocampal volume was larger than in late-onset depressed patients and the positive correlation was observed between MMSE scores at admission and left hippocampal volume to cerebral volume ratio. In late-onset depressed patients, there was the negative correlation between numbers of psychiatric admission and MMSE scores at admission as well as and between cerebral volume and age of onset. CONCLUSION: Our study indicated no change in the volume of hippocampus among geriatric major depressive patients. So we suggest that more extensive and systematic studies for structural abnormality of hippocampus will be required.
Age of Onset ; Aged* ; Brain ; Depression ; Depressive Disorder, Major* ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Education ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging

OBJECTIVES: Reductions of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), a putative marker of neuronal viability, within the subcortical structures in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are well documented. However, there has been no report of the NAA level in cortical structures. The authors used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (1H-MRSI) to assess potential reductions of NAA in the frontal white matter, prefrontal gray matter, parietal gray and white matter, and the cingulate in drugnaive patients with OCD and explored the relationship between the brain metabolites and the degree to the dysfunction on the neuropsychological performances. METHODS : Thirteen drug-naive patients who met DSM-IV criteria for OCD and 13 healthy age-, sex-, handness- matched control subjects were studied. Subjects underwent MRI and 1H-MRSI and the peaks of NAA, creatine+phosphocreatine (Cr), and choline-containing compounds (Cho) were measured. Differences between patients and control subjects were tested for each metabolite ratio, and the relations between metabolite ratios and clinical symptoms, neuropsychological performances were examined. RESULTS : Upon comparison with normal controls, NAA/Cr ratio was significantly reduced in patients for the prefrontal gray matter, frontal white matter and anterior cingulate. There was no difference in Cho/Cr or NAA/Cho in any region. Also, a significant positive correlation was found between prefrontal NAA/Cr ratio and the delayed recall score of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test in patients with OCD. CONCLUSION : The reduced NAA/Cr ratio in the prefrontal gray matter and frontal white matter suggests that OCD patients have lower neuronal viability than normal comparisons and it may be related to impaired organizational strategies in patients with OCD. These results support a role for the frontal-subcortical circuitry in a neurobiologic model of OCD.
Brain ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Neurons ; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder* ; Protons* ; Rabeprazole

OBJECTIVE: Comorbid depression is common in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). An increase in white matter lesions (WMLs) has been associated with depression in both elderly individuals with normal cognition and patients with Alzheimer's disease. We investigated whether the severity and location of WMLs influence the association between WMLs and comorbid depression in AD. METHODS: We enrolled 93 AD patients from Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. We administered both the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Inventory (MINI) and the Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Packet (CERAD-K) clinical and neuropsychological battery. Subjects also underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We diagnosed AD according to the criteria of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association. We diagnosed depressive disorders according to the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria, and evaluated the severity of depressive symptoms using the Korean version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-K). We quantified the WML volumes from the brain MRI using a fully automated segmentation algorithm. RESULTS: The log of the WML volume in the frontal lobe was significantly associated with depressive disorders (odds ratio=1.905, 95% CI=1.027-3.533, p=0.041), but not with the severity of depressive symptoms as measured by the GDS-K. CONCLUSION: The WML volume in the frontal lobe conferred a risk of comorbid depressive disorders in AD, which implies that comorbid depression in AD may be attributed to vascular causes.
Aged ; Alzheimer Disease* ; Brain ; Cognition ; Communication Disorders ; Depression* ; Depressive Disorder ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Frontal Lobe ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Seoul ; Stroke

OBJECTIVE: Serotonin-1A receptors (5-HTR1A) is suggested to be involved in the etiology of several psychiatric disorders including panic disorder (PD). A few imaging studies have suggested the alterations of the cingulum bundle in PD. The objective of this study is to examine the structural changes of cingulum related to the 5-HTR1A polymorphism rs6295 in the patients with PD. METHODS: Thirty-two right-handed patients with PD [11 men, 21 women; 40.34+/-13.17 (mean+/-SD) age] who met the diagnostic criteria in Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV were examined by means of MRI at 3 Tesla. We divided the patients with PD into CC genotype group and non CC genotype group (GG/CG genotype group) of the 5-HTR1A rs6295 polymorphism to compare the cingulum white matter connectivity. RESULTS: Tract-based spatial statistics showed significantly increased fractional anisotropy (FA) values in cingulate gyrus process of left cingulum in 5-HTR1A CC genotype compared to GG/CG genotype in PD. Significant positive correlations were shown between the Albany Panic and Phobia Questionnaire (APPQ) interoceptive fear subscale scores, the Anxiety Sensitivity Inventory-Revised fear of publicly observable anxiety reaction subscale scores and FA values of cingulate gyrus process of left cingulum in 5-HTR1A rs6295 GG/CG genotype group. In CC genotype group, APPQ total, APPQ agoraphobia subscale and APPQ social phobia subscale scores also showed significant positive correlations with FA values of hippocampal process of right cingulum. CONCLUSION: This preliminary study suggests that 5-HTR1A polymorphism may be associated with the cingulum white matter connectivity in PD.
Agoraphobia ; Anisotropy ; Anxiety ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Female ; Genotype ; Gyrus Cinguli ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Neuroimaging ; Panic Disorder* ; Panic* ; Phobic Disorders ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECT: Nicotine dependence is the most common substance abuse disorder. One of the characteristics of nicotine dependence is craving. Regional activation of the brain induced by craving for nicotine was evaluated by using functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate neuroanatomical site of smoking craving. METHOD: A smoker who satisfied DSM-IV criteria for nicotine dependence and a non smoker was studied. MRI data were acquired on a 1.5T Magnetom Vision Plus with a head volume coil. Two sets of visual stimuli were presented to subjects in a random manner. One was the film scenes of inducing smoking craving and the other was neutral stimuli not related to smoking. There were two fMRI sessions before and after smoking or sham smoking. Data were analyzed using SPM99. RESULTS: fMRI showed significant activated area in anterior cingulate and medial frontal lobes in the smoker during smoking craving. Right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and parietal lobes were activated in the control during visual stimulation before smoking. After smoking, there was no brain activation during visual stimulation in both of smoker and non smoker. CONCLUSION: Metabolic activity of the anterior cingulate and medial frontal lobes increased during craving for smoking. This result suggests that fMRI may be a valuable tool in the identification of neurobiological process of craving.
Brain ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Frontal Lobe ; Head ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Nicotine ; Parietal Lobe ; Photic Stimulation ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Smoke* ; Smoking* ; Substance-Related Disorders ; Tobacco Use Disorder

OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to investigate the relationship between age of onset in late-life depression and T2 hyperintensities observed in the brain MRI, we tried to see part of pathophysiology of late-life depression. METHOD: The subjects consisted of 18 patients whose first depressive episode occurred before age 50, and 20 patients whose first depressive episode occurred after age 50 years, and 20 agematched controls. Depressive patients were diagnosed according to DSM-IV. Established hyperintensity rating systems were used to analyse the T2 weighted images and blood pressure, cholesterol level, DM, EKG were measured to compare the relationships. RESULTS: 1) Signal hyperintensities on T2 weighted image were more severe in late-life depressive patients whose first depressive episode after age 50 (p<0.05) and there is no significant difference between patients whose first episode before age 50 and age-matched control subjects. 2) Mild signal hyperintensities were observed in all elderly depressed patients and control subjects, but severe hyperintensities were observed in late-onset depression. 3) Signal hyperintensities were related to age, hypertension, blood cholesterol level (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The late onset depressive patients had more white matter hyperintensities on T2 weighted image than early onset depressive patients. this results support previous hypothesis that white matter change is the important biological factor of late-onset elderly depression and old age, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia may be associated with signal hyperintensities.
Age of Onset ; Aged ; Biological Factors ; Blood Pressure ; Brain* ; Cholesterol ; Depression ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Electrocardiography ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Hypertension ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging*

Aerophagia is a disorder caused by abnormal accumulation of air in the gastrointestinal tract as a result of repetitive and frequent inflow of air through the mouth. For the diagnosis of this condition, it is difficult to objectively measure the air swallowing. However, multichannel intraluminal impedance monitoring facilitates the differential diagnosis between normal air swallowing and pathologic aerophagia, and can aid in the determination of the frequency and amount of air swallowed. In this report, in addition to a literature review, we describe a case of 36-year-old man with abdominal distension who was diagnosed with aerophagia using esophageal impedance monitoring and was treated with clonazepam.
Adult ; Aerophagy/*diagnosis/diagnostic imaging/drug therapy ; Anticonvulsants/therapeutic use ; Clonazepam/therapeutic use ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Electric Impedance ; Humans ; Male ; Mental Disorders/complications ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVES: Neurobiological models for obsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD) have consistently implicated prefrontal-striatal circuits in the pathophysiology of this disorder. But, prior studies have inconsistently found alteration in caudate and frontal lobe volumes in patients with OCD. This study was undertaken in the hope that semi-automated linear transformation methods would elucidate the morphometric differences of various parts of brain between OCD and normal control group. METHODS: Thirteen patients meeting the DSM-IV criteria for OCD, and 9 psychiatrically normal comparison subjects participated in the study. 3-D brain MRIs using Spoiled gradient-recalled (SPGR) sequence were acquired for each subjects. After spatially normalized according to Talairach and Tournoux's coordinates, the gray and white matters were segmented by semiautomated methods using fuzzy algorithm. Each lobal volumes was measured according to Talairach and Tournoux's coordinates, and the region of interests of caudate nuclei was manually traced. The frontal lobe was divided into 3 subregions; dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, orbital frontal cortex, mesial frontal cortex accoring to the coordinates and Broadman's cytoarchitectonics. RESULTS: Only the volume of left and right frontal gray matter showed a significant difference between OCD and normal subjects. In OCD, the frontal gray matter volume was increased in tendency. There's no difference in laterality and no coorelation with clinical severities. CONCLUSION: Findings of increased frontal gray matter volumes in patients implicate a structural abnormality of these brain regions in the pathophysiology of OCD. The increased frontal gray matter volumes reflect a epiphenomena due to increased cerebral blood flows and metabolic rates before the structural changes may occur.
Brain* ; Caudate Nucleus ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Frontal Lobe ; Hope ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder* ; Orbit ; Prefrontal Cortex

No abstract available.
Adult ; Brain/diagnostic imaging ; Bronchoscopy ; *Chromosomes, Human, Pair 9 ; Death, Sudden, Cardiac/*etiology ; Gene Duplication ; Humans ; Karyotyping ; Male ; Mental Disorders/*complications/genetics/pathology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Tracheomalacia/diagnostic imaging ; Ventricular Fibrillation/complications