Abstract

Striatal hyperdopaminergia is implicated in the pathoetiology of schizophrenia, but how this relates to dopaminergic midbrain activity is unclear. Neuromelanin (NM)-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging provides a marker of long-term dopamine function. We examined whether midbrain NM-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging contrast-to-noise ratio (NM-CNR) was higher in people with schizophrenia than in healthy control (HC) participants and whether this correlated with dopamine synthesis capacity.