scholarly journals Positron Emission Tomography in Parkinson’s Disease

Author(s):  
Barry J. Snow

ABSTRACT:Positron emission tomography (PET) allows the study of physiological and neurochemical processes which would otherwise be inaccessible, using radioactive labels on biological compounds to follow their fate in the body. By analysing changes of concentration with time we can measure blood flow, neuronal metabolism and receptor ligand interactions. In Parkinson’s disease (PD), PET has been used to examine the dopaminergic deficit and its relationship to motor performance. It has also been shown to detect asymptomatic dopaminergic lesions that have implications for the etiology of PD. In untreated PD there is increased density of D2 binding sites, while in chronically treated PD with motor fluctuations, D2 receptor density is reduced. [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose studies of demented PD patients show a pattern of cortical metabolism similar to Alzheimer’s disease. Activation studies, which measure changes in blood flow during the performance of motor tasks, show reduced activation of medial frontal areas in PD.

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangwoo Kim ◽  
Youngjeon Lee ◽  
Chang-Yeop Jeon ◽  
Yeung Bae Jin ◽  
Sukhoon Oh ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Although the thalamus is known to modulate basal ganglia function related to motor control activity, the abnormal changes within the thalamus during distinct medical complications have been scarcely investigated. In order to explore the feasibility of assessing iron accumulation in the thalamus as an informative biomarker for Parkinson’s disease (PD), this study was designed to employ quantitative susceptibility mapping using a 7 T magnetic resonance imaging system in cynomolgus monkeys. A 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine-injected cynomolgus monkey and a healthy control (HC) were examined by 7 T magnetic resonance imaging. Positron emission tomography with 18F-N-(3-fluoro propyl)-2ß-carboxymethoxy-3ß-(4-iodophenyl) nortropane was also employed to identify the relationship between iron deposits and dopamine depletion. All acquired values were averaged within the volume of interest of the nigrostriatal pathway. Findings Compared with the HC, the overall elevation of iron deposition within the thalamus in the Parkinson’s disease model (about 53.81% increase) was similar to that in the substantia nigra (54.81%) region. Substantial susceptibility changes were observed in the intralaminar part of the thalamus (about 70.78% increase). Additionally, we observed that in the Parkinson’s disease model, binding potential values obtained from positron emission tomography were considerably decreased in the thalamus (97.51%) and substantia nigra (92.48%). Conclusions The increased iron deposition in the thalamus showed negative correlation with dopaminergic activity in PD, supporting the idea that iron accumulation affects glutaminergic inputs and dopaminergic neurons. This investigation indicates that the remarkable susceptibility changes in the thalamus could be an initial major diagnostic biomarker for Parkinson’s disease-related motor symptoms.


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