Locus Coeruleus Shows a Spatial Pattern of Structural Disintegration in Parkinson's Disease.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Parkinson's disease (PD) causes a loss of neuromelanin-positive, noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC), which has been implicated in nonmotor dysfunction.

Objectives

We used "neuromelanin sensitive" magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to localize structural disintegration in the LC and its association with nonmotor dysfunction in PD.

Methods

A total of 42 patients with PD and 24 age-matched healthy volunteers underwent magnetization transfer weighted (MTw) MRI of the LC. The contrast-to-noise ratio of the MTw signal (CNR_MTw ) was used as an index of structural LC integrity. We performed slicewise and voxelwise analyses to map spatial patterns of structural disintegration, complemented by principal component analysis (PCA). We also tested

SUBMITTER: Madelung CF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9303353 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature