[Study on dopamine D2 binding capacity in vascular parkinsonism]

To investigate whether the striatal dopamine receptor function is involved in the development of vascular parkinsonism (VP), a positron emission tomography (PET) study was conducted on 9 patients with VP by using [11C] N-methylspiperone as the tracer. The rate of binding availability in the striatal dopamine D2 receptor (k3) was determined semiquantitatively, and the values were compared to the predicted normal values based on the results from 7 normal volunteers. Of 9 patients with VP, the normalized D2 receptor binding [%k3] was more than 90% in 5 patients, 89 to 87% in 3, and 75% in one. These values showed no evident correlation with the Hoehn and Yahr stage. The laterality of the striatal %k3 did not correspond to that of the parkinsonism. Thus, the striatal dopamine D2 receptor binding was not severely impaired and did not correlate with the neurological status in patients with VP. This may indicate that striatal dopamine D2 receptor function is not primarily associated with the development of the parkinsonism in VP.