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REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) is an early sleep disturbance symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD) thought to be caused by the disruption of normal basal ganglia function due to neurodegeneration. To further elucidate the neuropathological contribution of RBD in PD, we aimed to characterize the role of vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2), an index of nigrostriatal dopamine innervation, in PD patients with RBD (PD-RBD+). We identified 15 PD-RBD+, 15 PD patients without RBD (PD-RBD–) and 15 age matched healthy controls (HC) who underwent [11C]DTBZ PET imaging. This technique measures VMAT2 availability within striatal regions of interest (ROI). Mixed effect model was used to compare the radioligand binding of VMAT2 between the three groups for each striatal ROI, while co-varying for sex, cognitive function and depression scores. Multiple regressions were also computed to predict clinical measures from group condition and VMAT2 binding within all ROIs explored. Significant level was set at p |
