Proton MR spectroscopic imaging of the striatum in Parkinson's disease

Quantitative1H Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging Determines Therapeutic Immunization Efficacy in an Animal Model of Parkinson's Disease

“…Its use as a diagnostic test for PD has been hampered by the inability of previous tests to precisely localize it to the SNpc, a necessary prerequisite because of the exacting relationship of NAA to neuronal injury and the requirement for high-field MRSI to ensure precise quantitative measurements (Clarke et al, 1997;Cruz et al, 1997;Federico et al, 1997;Brooks, 2000;Clarke and Lowry, 2000;Firbank et al, 2002;Baik et al, 2003). Nevertheless, a number of advantages to NAA measurements are evident, including its exclusive relationship to synthesis in neuronal mitochondria and reduction in mitochondrial dysfunction (Clark, 1998;Signoretti et al, 2001).…”

“…An early diagnosis would enable early treatment intervention at times when positive outcomes are likely. In this regard, functional imaging, including single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) (Seibyl et al, 1995;Benamer et al, 2000), positron emission tomography (PET) (Vingerhoets et al, 1994;Eidelberg et al, 1995a,b;Morrish et al, 1996), proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging ( 1 H MRSI) (Cruz et al, 1997;Tedeschi et al, 1997), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (Ceballos-Baumann, 2003), are promising approaches for early PD diagnosis. The potential for detection of early disease stage is significant (Burn and O'Brien, 2003;Simpkins and Jankovic, 2003).…”

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging of medulla oblongata and substantia nigra in idiopathic Parkinson's disease

“…Furthermore, same team have demonstrated no changes in NAA/Cr or Cho/Cr of the posterior cingulate gyrus. 26 Other investigators, however, have not detected such changes in NAA, Cr, and Cho measurements, 13,14,27 and the reasons for these different findings need to be resolved. The results of the present pilot study, combined with the conflicting findings from previous work, suggest that further, much larger, studies are required to evaluate the diagnostic capability of proton MRS.…”

“…This result is in agreement with the findings of previous reports, though the PD subjects had slightly lower values for each ROI. [12][13][14][15]17,18 This must be viewed in the context of some possible sources of error. One issue raised in our study is determining the sample size for the study, which is too small and inadequate to judge the result.…”

“…In contrast, some studies have reported no differences between PD and control subjects in either metabolite ratios or concentrations of NAA, Cr, and Cho. [13][14][15] Majority of studies were concentrated on the metabolites visible with proton 1 H MRS and were measured in specified tissue volumes in the brain. The few published MRS studies of the SN in PD utilized larger volumes encompassing the SN, and have overlooked the medulla oblongata (MO) in their studies due to previous understanding of caudorostral disease progression.…”