Reduction of serotonin transporters of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome

Neuroreport. 2004 Dec 3;15(17):2571-4. doi: 10.1097/00001756-200412030-00002.

Abstract

To assess the involvement of serotonin in the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome, we investigated the serotonergic neurotransmitter system of chronic fatigue syndrome patients by the positron emission tomography (PET). Here we show that the density of serotonin transporters (5-HTTs) in the brain, as determined by using a radiotracer, [C](+)McN5652, was significantly reduced in the rostral subdivision of the anterior cingulate as compared with that in normal volunteers. This subdivision is different from that in the dorsal anterior cingulate in which binding potential values of individual patient showed a weak negative correlation with self-reported pain score of the patients. Therefore, an alteration of serotonergic system in the rostral anterior cingulate plays a key role in pathophysiology of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain Mapping
  • Carbon Isotopes / metabolism
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / metabolism*
  • Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / pathology
  • Female
  • Gyrus Cinguli / diagnostic imaging
  • Gyrus Cinguli / metabolism*
  • Gyrus Cinguli / pathology
  • Humans
  • Isoquinolines / metabolism
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Membrane Glycoproteins / metabolism*
  • Membrane Transport Proteins / metabolism*
  • Middle Aged
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / metabolism*
  • Pain Measurement / methods
  • Positron-Emission Tomography / methods
  • Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins

Substances

  • Carbon Isotopes
  • Isoquinolines
  • Membrane Glycoproteins
  • Membrane Transport Proteins
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins
  • SLC6A4 protein, human
  • Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins
  • McN 5652