Changes of central noradrenaline transporter availability in immunotherapy-naïve multiple sclerosis patients

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 14651
• Main Authors: Schmidt, Elisa, Schinke, Christian, Rullmann, Michael, Luthardt, Julia, Becker, Georg-Alexander, Haars, Sarah, Stoppe, Muriel, Lobsien, Donald, Hoffmann, Karl-Titus, Sabri, Osama, Hesse, Swen, Then Bergh, Florian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 04-09-2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/378/1689/1666; 631/378/2587; 692/4017; 692/617/375/1666; Adult; Amygdala; Arousal; Autoimmune diseases; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - metabolism; Carbon Radioisotopes - metabolism; Depression - psychology; Disability Evaluation; Fatigue; Fatigue - psychology; Female; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Immunotherapy; Inflammation; Longitudinal studies; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Mental depression; Mesencephalon; Middle Aged; Mood; multidisciplinary; Multiple sclerosis; Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting - diagnostic imaging; Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting - therapy; Neuroprotection; Neurotransmission; Norepinephrine; Norepinephrine - metabolism; Norepinephrine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins - metabolism; Pons; Positron emission tomography; Positron-Emission Tomography - methods; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Putamen; Radioactive tracers; Reboxetine - metabolism; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Thalamus; Young Adult
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-70732-5

The neurotransmitter noradrenaline (NA) mediates arousal, attention and mood, and exerts anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects. Alterations of monoamine signalling were reported in multiple sclerosis (MS) and psychiatric illness and may account for the high prevalence of comorbid depression and fatigue in MS patients. We assessed central noradrenaline transporter (NAT) availability using positron emission tomography (PET) and the NAT selective radiotracer S,S-[
11
C]O-methylreboxetine in immunotherapy-naïve patients with relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS; n = 11) compared to healthy controls (HC; n = 12), and its association to lesion load, time since manifestation, the expanded disability status scale (EDSS), the fatigue scale
Würzburger Erschöpfungsinventar bei MS
(WEIMuS) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). We found NAT availability to be increased in the thalamus, amygdala, putamen and pons/midbrain of MS patients. No relation to clinical or psychometric variables was found. These first data indicate higher NAT availability in subcortical brain regions of immunotherapy-naïve RRMS patients. If these changes of noradrenergic neurotransmission predispose to psychiatric symptoms or associate with disease activity needs to be investigated in longitudinal studies or a larger sample which allows subgroup analyses.