Parkinson's disease cognitive network correlates with caudate dopamine
Martin Niethammer1, Chris C Tang, Yilong Ma
1Center for Neurosciences, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, 350 Community Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030, USA. mniethamme@nshs.edu
Neuroimage
|April 13, 2013
Summary
Parkinson's disease (PD) patients show a link between reduced dopamine transporter binding in the caudate nucleus and cognitive decline. This highlights the role of nigrostriatal dopaminergic dysfunction in PD cognition.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Radiology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Cognition is often impaired in Parkinson's disease (PD).
- Previous research suggests a connection between the caudate nucleus's dopaminergic function and cognitive abilities in PD patients.
- The PD cognition-related metabolic pattern (PDCP) is a validated measure of cognitive networks in PD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between nigrostriatal dopaminergic dysfunction and the expression of the PDCP in non-demented PD patients.
- To determine if dopamine transporter (DAT) binding in specific brain regions correlates with PDCP expression.
Main Methods:
- A dual tracer positron emission tomography (PET) study was conducted on 17 non-demented PD patients.
- [(18)F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET was used to measure PDCP expression.
- [(18)F]-fluoropropyl-β-CIT (FPCIT) PET was used to measure DAT binding.
- Voxel-wise analysis and region-of-interest (ROI) analyses were performed to assess correlations between DAT binding and PDCP expression.
Main Results:
- A significant negative correlation was found between DAT binding and PDCP expression in the left caudate nucleus (p<0.05, corrected).
- An analogous correlation was observed in the right caudate nucleus (r=-0.63, p<0.01).
- These findings were confirmed in caudate ROIs (r=-0.67, p<0.005), even after adjusting for clinical factors.
Conclusions:
- Loss of dopaminergic input to the caudate nucleus is significantly associated with the expression of a cognition-related network in unmedicated PD patients.
- These baseline dopaminergic and metabolic measures may predict the cognitive impact of dopaminergic therapy in PD.
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