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Striatal dopamine transporters and cognitive function in Parkinson’s disease
Author(s) -
Stögbauer Jakob,
Rosar Florian,
Dillmann Ulrich,
Faßbender Klaus,
Ezziddin Samer,
Spiegel Jörg
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/ane.13320
Subject(s) - hypokinesia , dopamine transporter , cognition , dopaminergic , psychology , parkinson's disease , neuroscience , putamen , dopamine , executive functions , medicine , disease
Background Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by clinical motor symptoms including hypokinesia, rigidity and tremor. In addition to the movement disorder, cognitive deficits are commonly described. In the present study, we applied FP‐CIT SPECT to investigate the impact of nigrostriatal dopaminergic degeneration on cognitive function in PD patients. Methods Fifty‐four PD patients underwent [ 123 I]FP‐CIT SPECT and CERAD (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease) testing. FP‐CIT SPECT visualized the density of presynaptic dopamine transporters in both striata, each subdivided into a limbic, executive and sensorimotor subregion according to the atlas of Tziortzi et al ( Cereb Cortex 24, 2014, 1165). CERAD testing quantified cognitive function. Results In the CERAD testing, PD patients exhibited deficits in the domains of semantic memory, attention, visuospatial function, non‐verbal memory and executive function. After correction for multiple testing, the performance of the subtests Figure Recall and Trail‐Making Test A correlated significantly with FP‐CIT uptake into the ipsilateral executive subregion. The performance of the subtest Figure Saving correlated significantly with FP‐CIT uptake into the contralateral executive subregion. Conclusions The significant correlation between cognitive function and density of nigrostriatal dopamine transporters, as assessed by FP‐CIT SPECT, indicate that striatal dopaminergic pathways—primarily the executive striatal subregion—are relevant to cognitive processing in PD.