title: Evidence for a dopaminergic deficit in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis on positron emission scanning.
abstract: Although rare, the chronic neurodegenerative disorders amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and idiopathic parkinsonism coexist to a greater degree than expected by chance. This suggests that patients with ALS may have subclinical lesions of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway. To study this hypothesis, we did positron emission tomography with 6-fluorodopa on 16 patients with sporadic ALS and without extrapyramidal disease, and compared the results with age-matched controls. We found a significant progressive fall in 6-fluorodopa uptake with time since diagnosis, and reduced dopaminergic function in 3 patients with ALS of long duration. This supports the hypothesis that ALS and IP may share pathogenesis and, perhaps, aetiology.
authors.affiliation: Neurodegenerative Disorders Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Snow
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Bhatt
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Peppard
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eisen
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Calne
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D004295:Dihydroxyphenylalanine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000378:metabolism; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed
chemical_list: D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; C043437:fluorodopa F 18; D004295:Dihydroxyphenylalanine