A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Positron emission tomography shows that impaired frontal lobe functioning in Parkinson's disease is related to dopaminergic hypofunction in the caudate nucleus




AuthorsBruck A, Portin R, Lindell A, Laihinen A, Bergman J, Haaparanta M, Solin O, Rinne JO

PublisherELSEVIER SCI IRELAND LTD

Publication year2001

JournalNeuroscience Letters

Journal name in sourceNEUROSCIENCE LETTERS

Journal acronymNEUROSCI LETT

Volume311

Issue2

First page 81

Last page84

Number of pages4

ISSN0304-3940

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3940(01)02124-3


Abstract
We examined the relation between the dopaminergic function and the cognitive performance of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The subject sample consisted of ten patients in the early course of PD and with no previous antiparkinsonian medication. The dopaminergic function of the caudate nucleus and the putamen was studied with [F-18]fluorodopa positron emission tomography, and the cognitive performance with a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests including tests sensitive to frontal lobe function. The decreased [18F]fluorodopa uptake in the right caudate nucleus was found to be related to slow processing time, measured as the difference between the incongruent and the congruent subtests of the Stroop Test (r = -0.85, P = 0.002), a similar trend was seen in the left caudate (r = -0.60, P = 0.07). Similar correlation was not detected in the putamen. The present findings provide evidence that the decreased dopanninergic function in the right caudate nucleus is related to the impaired performance in tests sensitive to frontal lobe function in patients at an early stage of PD and with no antiparkinsonian medication. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.



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