In schizophrenia, dysfunction in the frontal cortex areas may be related to decrease in dopamine input. We have tested this hypothesis by evaluating the integrity of dopamine terminals with the specific marker for dopamine uptake sites using 3H[GBR 12935]. With our modified assay for frontal cortex, we have studied the binding saturation of this ligand in 21 schizophrenic and 16 control autopsied brains. There was a wide interindividual variation of Bmax in both the schizophrenics and the controls, which was not related to sex or postmortem delay, but it was related to age. In controls there was a nonsignificant negative correlation with age (r=0.59 p<0.05). The data suggest a differential process of aging of dopamine uptake sites in the frontal cortex of normal and schizophrenic populations.
