Olfactory dysfunction and striatal dopamine transporter binding in motor subtypes of Parkinson's disease

Olfactory dysfunction is one of the earliest non-motor symptoms (NMS) in Parkinson's disease (PD). There are contradictory results regarding the association of olfactory dysfunction and dopamine uptake in striatal nuclei among PD patients. It has been suggested that different motor subtypes of PD vary in the disease pathophysiology and progression. Thus, we hypothesized that there might be different associations between olfactory dysfunction and striatal dopaminergic neuronal loss among three motor subtypes of PD, namely, indeterminate, postural instability and gait difficulty (PIGD), and tremor-dominant (TD).

We recruited 162 healthy controls (HCs) and 464 drug-naïve PD patients from PPMI who underwent common PD scaling tests. Striatal binding ratios (SBRs) of DaTSCAN images in caudate and putamen nuclei were calculated. To assess the olfactory function, the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) was carried out.

The UPSIT score was significantly correlated with MDS-UPDRS part I (p value: 0.002, correlation coefficient: - 0.160), MDS-UPDRS part III (p value: 0.000, correlation coefficient: - 0.248), and SBR score in right (p value: 0.000, correlation coefficient: 0.240) and left caudate (p value: 0.000, correlation coefficient: 0.221) and right (p value: 0.000, correlation coefficient: 0.323) and left putamen (p value: 0.000, correlation coefficient: 0.335) nucleus in TD subtype. There were no significant correlations in HC, PIGD, and indeterminate subjects.

The olfactory dysfunction was correlated with dopamine transporter activity in striatal nuclei only in the TD subtype. Therefore, the olfactory dysfunction in PIGD and indeterminate subtype may not be a predictive factor for the future decrease in dopamine uptake.