ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2019
Neuromelanin-sensitive MRI as a noninvasive proxy measure of dopamine function in the human brain.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 141 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Anhedonia, Development, and Emotions: Phenotyping and Therapeutics (ADEPT) Study
The Relationship Between the Efficacy of Lumateperone and Central Glutamate and Dopaminergic Metabolism: A Comparison With Risperidone in First Episode Psychosis
Who cites it
141 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 231 citations in OpenAlex.
- Chronic social stressors and striatal dopamine functioning in humans: A systematic review of SPECT and PET studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Neuromelanin accumulation in patients with schizophrenia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Diagnostic performance of neuromelanin-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging for patients with Parkinson's disease and factor analysis for its heterogeneity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European radiology · 2021Pooled it
- Neuromelanin-Sensitive Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Schizophrenia: A Meta-Analysis of Case-Control Studies.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Daily heart rate variability biofeedback training decreases locus coeruleus MRI contrast in younger adults in a randomized clinical trial.International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology · 2023Trial
- An etiological approach to psychosis: potential benefits for treatment, research and prevention.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2026Article
- The swallow tail sign: mechanisms, neuroimaging advances and future perspectives.Insights into imaging · 2026Article
- The mechanism underlying tardive dyskinesia: an exploratory test of the dopamine overactivity hypothesis using MRI imaging of midbrain neuromelanin.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- The Physiology Of the WEight Reduced State (POWERS) study: design and rationale for assessment of food intake, physical activity and other behavioral constructs.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Article
- Sexual dimorphism of midbrain catecholaminergic metabolism revealed by neuromelanin-sensitive MRI.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Candidate Right Locus Coeruleus-Centered Symptom Pathways in Young Major Depressive Disorder: A Multimodal Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.Human brain mapping · 2026Article
- A protocol for the Teen Bugs study: An integrative, multi-omics approach to understanding the role of the gut microbiome and mesocorticolimbic system in adolescent mental health following early adverse caregiving.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Comparison of Diagnostic Performance Between Standard Susceptibility Map-Weighted Imaging and Susceptibility Map-Weighted Imaging Reconstructed From Clinical SWI and Neuromelanin MRI in Early Parkinson's Disease.Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI · 2026Article
- Multiscale characterization of the human claustrum from histology to MRI.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- The Noradrenergic Brain in Parkinson's Disease.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2026Review
- Postpartum psychosis is associated with elevated neuromelanin-MRI signal in the midbrain.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Individual cases of Parkinson's disease can be robustly classified using magnetoencephalography.NPJ Parkinson's disease · 2026Article
- Neuromelanin imaging outperforms free water imaging in diagnosing early Parkinson's disease: a comparative MRI study.NPJ Parkinson's disease · 2026Article
- Habitat-based MRI radiomics for enhanced parkinson's diagnosis.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Associations of neuromelanin in the substantia nigra with antipsychotic response in schizophrenia.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
81 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Neuromelanin-sensitive MRI (NM-MRI) purports to detect the content of neuromelanin (NM), a product of dopamine metabolism that accumulates with age in dopamine neurons of the substantia nigra (SN). Interindividual variability in dopamine function may result in varying levels of NM accumulation in the SN; however, the ability of NM-MRI to measure dopamine function in nonneurodegenerative conditions has not been established. Here, we validated that NM-MRI signal intensity in postmortem midbrain specimens correlated with regional NM concentration even in the absence of neurodegeneration, a prerequisite for its use as a proxy for dopamine function. We then validated a voxelwise NM-MRI approach with sufficient anatomical sensitivity to resolve SN subregions. Using this approach and a multimodal dataset of molecular PET and fMRI data, we further showed the NM-MRI signal was related to both dopamine release in the dorsal striatum and resting blood flow within the SN. These results suggest that NM-MRI signal in the SN is a proxy for function of dopamine neurons in the nigrostriatal pathway. As a proof of concept for its clinical utility, we show that the NM-MRI signal correlated to severity of psychosis in schizophrenia and individuals at risk for schizophrenia, consistent with the well-established dysfunction of the nigrostriatal pathway in psychosis. Our results indicate that noninvasive NM-MRI is a promising tool that could have diverse research and clinical applications to investigate in vivo the role of dopamine in neuropsychiatric illness.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.