A longitudinal study of motor performance and striatal [18F]fluorodopa uptake in Parkinson’s disease

• Published in: Brain imaging and behavior Vol. 5; no. 3; pp. 203 - 211
• Main Authors: Gallagher, Catherine L., Johnson, Sterling C., Bendlin, Barbara B., Chung, Moo K., Holden, James E., Oakes, Terrence R., Brooks, Benjamin R., Konopacki, Richard A., Dogan, Selami, Abbs, James H., Xu, Guofan, Nickles, Robert J., Pyzalski, Robert W., DeJesus, Onofre T., Brown, W. Douglas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer-Verlag 01-09-2011; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aged; Aging - physiology; Antiparkinson Agents - therapeutic use; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Carbidopa - therapeutic use; Caudate Nucleus - diagnostic imaging; Caudate Nucleus - metabolism; Corpus Striatum - diagnostic imaging; Corpus Striatum - metabolism; Dihydroxyphenylalanine - analogs & derivatives; Dihydroxyphenylalanine - pharmacokinetics; Dopamine; Female; Hand Strength - physiology; Humans; Isometric Contraction - physiology; Levodopa - therapeutic use; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical imaging; Middle Aged; Muscle Strength - physiology; Neuropsychological Tests; Neuropsychology; Neuroradiology; Neurosciences; Original Research; Parkinson Disease - diagnostic imaging; Parkinson Disease - metabolism; Parkinson's disease; Positron-Emission Tomography; Psychiatry; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Radiopharmaceuticals - pharmacokinetics; Reaction Time - physiology; Retrospective Studies; Sex Characteristics; Tongue - physiology; United States > US; Tongue/physiopathology; Ageing; Facial Muscles/physiopathology; Fluorodopa; Motor control; Positron emission tomography; Parkinson’s disease
• ISSN: 1931-7557; 1931-7565
• DOI: 10.1007/s11682-011-9124-5

Although [
18
F]fluoro-
l
-dopa [FDOPA] positron emission tomography (PET) has been used as a surrogate outcome measure in Parkinson’s disease therapeutic trials, this biomarker has not been proven to reflect clinical status longitudinally. We completed a retrospective analysis of relationships between computerized sampling of motor performance, FDOPA PET, and clinical outcome scales, repeated over 4 years, in 26 Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients and 11 healthy controls. Mixed effects analyses showed that movement time and tongue strength best differentiated PD from control subjects. In the treated PD cohort, motor performance measures changed gradually in contrast to a steady decline in striatal FDOPA uptake. Prolonged reaction and movement time were related to lower caudate nucleus FDOPA uptake, and abnormalities in hand fine force control were related to mean striatal FDOPA uptake. These findings provide evidence that regional loss of nigrostriatal inputs to frontostriatal networks affects specific aspects of motor function.