Reduced Dopamine Transporter Expression in the Amygdala of Subjects Diagnosed With Schizophrenia

A disruption of dopaminergic transmission in the amygdala of subjects with schizophrenia was proposed as a main con-tributor to pathophysiological and clinical manifestations of this disorder. We tested the hypothesis that the expres-sion of the dopamine transporter (DAT) is decreased in the amygdala of subjects with schizophrenia. In normal control, schizophrenic subjects and bipolar disorder subjects, we measured numerical density of axon varicosities immuno-reactive (IR) for DAT in the lateral (LN), basal, accessory basal (ABN), and cortical (CO) nuclei and intercalated cell masses (ITCM) of the amygdala. Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-IR and dopamine beta-hydroxylase (DBH)-IR vari-cosities were measured to test for potential loss of varicosi-ties and serotonin transporter (5HTT)-IR for involvement of the serotoninergic system. Among several potential con