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. 2019 May;39(5):822-833.
doi: 10.1177/0271678X17737693. Epub 2017 Nov 1.

Partial-volume correction increases estimated dopamine D2-like receptor binding potential and reduces adult age differences

Christopher T Smith  1 , Jennifer L Crawford  2   3 , Linh C Dang  1 , Kendra L Seaman  2   3 , M Danica San Juan  1 , Aishwarya Vijay  4 , Daniel T Katz  1 , David Matuskey  4   5 , Ronald L Cowan  1   6   7 , Evan D Morris  4   5   8 , David H Zald  1   6 , Gregory R Samanez-Larkin  2   3   9
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Partial-volume correction increases estimated dopamine D2-like receptor binding potential and reduces adult age differences

Christopher T Smith et al. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2019 May.

Abstract

The relatively modest spatial resolution of positron emission tomography (PET) increases the likelihood of partial volume effects such that binding potential (BPND) may be underestimated. Given structural grey matter losses across adulthood, partial volume effects may be even more problematic in older age leading to overestimation of adult age differences. Here we examined the effects of partial volume correction (PVC) in two studies from different sites using different high-affinity D2-like radioligands (18 F-Fallypride, 11C-FLB457) and different PET camera resolutions (∼5 mm, 2.5 mm). Results across both data sets revealed that PVC increased estimated BPND and reduced, though did not eliminate, age effects on BPND. As expected, the effects of PVC were smaller in higher compared to lower resolution data. Analyses using uncorrected data that controlled for grey matter volume in each region of interest approximated PVC corrected data for some but not all regions. Overall, the findings suggest that PVC increases estimated BPND in general and reduces adult age differences especially when using lower resolution cameras. The findings suggest that the past 30 years of research on dopamine receptor availability, for which very few studies use PVC, may overestimate effects of aging on dopamine receptor availability.

Keywords: Aging; D2 receptors; dopamine; partial volume correction; positron emission tomography imaging.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Example PET images (axial/transverse and coronal) of tracer uptake at frame 18 (top row) and frame 25 (bottom row) for a 60-year-old male subject within the Fallypride data collected with a GE DSTE data (left) and a 60-year-old male subject within the FLB data collected with a Siemens HRRT (right).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Age effects on partial-volume corrected (PVC) binding potential and uncorrected (unc) binding potential from Fallypride data collected with a GE DSTE. Shaded error indicates 95% CI of age effect.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Age effects on partial-volume corrected (PVC) binding potential and uncorrected (unc) binding potential from FLB457 data collected with a Siemens HRRT. Shaded error indicates 95% CI of age effect.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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