Biomarkers for REM sleep behavior disorder in idiopathic and narcoleptic patients

Abstract

To search for discriminating biomarkers, 30 patients with idiopathic rapid‐eye‐movements sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) were compared with 17 patients with RBD within narcolepsy type 1. Both groups underwent extensive examinations, including skin biopsy searching for phosphorylated α‐synuclein deposits and whole‐night video‐polysomnography. Skin biopsy was positive for phosphorylated α‐synuclein deposits in 86.7% of iRBD patients and in none of narcoleptic patients. The analysis of video‐polysomnographic motor events showed differences in their occurrence throughout the night in the two groups. iRBD and RBD due to narcolepsy do have different clinical and pathological findings, confirming a different pathophysiology.

Phosphorylated Alpha-Synuclein Within Cutaneous Autonomic Nerves of Patients With Parkinson’s Disease: The Implications of Sample Thickness on Results

“…30,31 More recently, the detection of phosphorylated alpha-synuclein from patients with idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavioral disorder suggests that early detection is an achievable goal. 16,32,33 These findings suggest that the need to optimize methodological techniques to maximize rates of early detection will be a critically important technical advance.…”

Dream enactment behavior: review for the clinician

“…• Nightmares occur both in NREM and REM sleep exhibit complex motor activities during NREM sleep, a characteristic which is not typical in the idiopathic RBD patients. 146 A prospective polysomnographic study over 2 consecutive nights found that 40% of children with narcolepsy type 1 exhibited simple gesturing during NREM sleep and 70% during REM sleep. 147 The prevalence of RBD in adults with narcolepsy type 2, relative to type 1, is believed to be less common, ranging from 0.3 to 15%.…”

Fluid and Tissue Biomarkers of Lewy Body Dementia: Report of an LBDA Symposium

“…The Braak staging system for PD suggests that pathology begins in the peripheral autonomic nervous system or olfactory bulb and then migrates proximally to the amygdala and brainstem and in the more severe cases, to the cerebral cortex (50). This model is supported by some human studies, such as those of multiple groups finding high levels of alpha-synuclein pathology in skin biopsies in early PD and in REM-sleep behavior disorder (RBD) without other clinical evidence of synucleinopathy (20,21,(51)(52)(53)(54). However, the model is not supported by other large autopsy-based studies that find no evidence of peripheral-first synucleinopathy (e.g.…”