Authors: Donald F Smith Bo S Stork Gregers Wegener Steen Jakobsen Dirk Bender Hélène Audrain Svend B Jensen Søren B Hansen Anders Rodell Raben Rosenberg
Publish Date: 2007/07/25
Volume: 195, Issue: 1, Pages: 131-138
Abstract
This study used a randomised doubleblind placebocontrolled parallelgroup withinsubject design Eighteen healthy volunteers were PETscanned twice with 11Cmirtazapine once under baseline condition and again after receiving either placebo or mirtazapine 75 or 15 mg for 5 days We determined kinetic parameters of 11Cmirtazapine in brain regions by the simplified reference region method and used binding potential values to calculate receptor occupancy produced by mirtazapineSerum concentrations of mirtazapine ranged from 33 to 56 nmol/l after five daily doses of 75 mg mirtazapine and were between 41 and 74 nmol/l after 15 mg mirtazapine Placebo treatment failed to alter the binding potential of 11Cmirtazapine from baseline values whereas daily intake of mirtazapine markedly decreased the binding potential in cortex amygdala and hippocampus Receptor occupancy ranged from 74 to 96 in highbinding regions of the brain after five daily doses of 75 mg or 15 mg mirtazapine whereas 17–48 occupancy occurred in lowbinding regions
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