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Excessive dopamine signaling has long been linked to psychosis, but it has not been clear whether hyperdopaminergia in specific brain regions is present before the onset of frank psychosis. In this PET study, researchers used labeled dopamine to measure striatal dopamine uptake in 24 patients with prodromal symptoms of schizophrenia, 7 patients with overt schizophrenia, and 12 healthy controls. Prodromal symptoms have been associated with a 35% chance of developing a psychotic illness (usually schizophrenia) within 2.5 years.
Prodromal symptoms were defined as attenuated psychotic symptoms (abnormal beliefs, perceptions, or speech) and poor functioning. Some prodromal patients also had psychotic symptoms that spontaneously resolved in less t…