Parkinson’s disease and dopamine transporter neuroimaging: a critical review

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder that is mainly caused by dopaminergic neuron loss in the substantia nigra. Several nuclear medicine radiotracers have been developed to evaluate PD diagnoses and disease evolution in vivo in PD patients. Positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon computerized emission tomography (SPECT) radiotracers for the dopamine transporter (DAT) provide good markers for the integrity of the presynaptic dopaminergic system affected in PD. Over the last decade, radiotracers suitable for imaging the DAT have been the subject of most efforts. In this review, we provide a critical discussion on the utility of DAT imaging for Parkinson’s disease diagnosis (sensitivity and specificity).

Diffusion tensor imaging in a rat model of Parkinson's disease after lesioning of the nigrostriatal tract

“…So far, the most widely used non-invasive experimental and clinical tool to evaluate PD severity is positron emission tomography (PET) or single photon emission tomography (SPECT) (14). In vivo studies of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic projection have also been performed in the 6-OHDA model using radiotracers with high affinity and specificity for the plasma membrane dopamine transporter (DAT) (15)(16)(17)(18). Quantification of PET images of patients or animal models showed a decrease of DAT binding that can be related to nigrostriatal degeneration.…”

Involvement of Nigrostriatal Pathway in Japanese Encephalitis with Movement Disorders: Evidence from 99mTc-TRODAT-1 and 123I-IBZM SPECT Imagings

“…In recent decades, SPECT and PET with various ligands have been used to investigate the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway in patients with parkinsonism [9,14,15]. This functional neuroimaging can provide an in vivo assessment of both the pre-and postsynaptic nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathways that cannot be achieved by using structural images of CT or MRI [9].…”

“…This functional neuroimaging can provide an in vivo assessment of both the pre-and postsynaptic nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathways that cannot be achieved by using structural images of CT or MRI [9]. To take advantage of functional imaging, the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system in JE patients with parkinsonism was studied by SPECT using radiotracers of 99m Tc-TRODAT-1 and 123 I-IBZM.…”

“…For example, autopsy confirms only about 75% of PD cases [9]. In early stages of PD, clinical diagnosis can be more difficult.…”

“…Post-mortem [5] and neuroradiological studies [6][7][8] have demonstrated that JE patients have frequent involvement of the substantia nigra, basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebral cortex. Recently, the technology of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) or positron emission tomography (PET) has successfully acquired the image of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway in patients with Parkinson's disease [9,10]. In 1997, a novel technetium-99m-labeled tropane derivative 99m Tc-TRODAT-1 ( [11].…”