Abstract #4169

Longitudinal VBM of downregulation in mice with striatum-specific D2R overexpression

Claudia Falfan-Melgoza¹, Anne Stephanie Mallien², Lei Zheng^1,3, Alexander Sartorius^1,2, Christoph Kellendonk ⁴, Peter Gass², and Wolfgang Weber-Fahr¹

¹RG Translational Imaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany, ²Department of Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany, ³Department of Radiation Oncology, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany, ⁴Department of Pharmacology, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States

Striatal D2R overexpression has been linked to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. We used longitudinal voxel based morphometry on a transgenic mouse model before and after switching off the striatal D2R overexpression using doxycycline. Longitudinal registration showed a significant volume gain after the treatment in large areas covering frontal, prefrontal, striatal and temporal regions in the animals with D2R overexpression. The areas with volume increase over time show a remarkable plasticity as a result of the D2R downregulation within three weeks and correspond largely to regions with decreased gray matter volume commonly found in VBM studies on schizophrenia patients.

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