Striatal monoamine terminals in Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
We used positron emission tomography (PET) with (+)-[(11)C]dihydrotetrabenazine ([+]-[(11)C]DTBZ) to examine striatal monoaminergic presynaptic terminal density in 20 patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), 25 with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and 19 normal elderly controls. Six DLB patients developed parkinsonism at least 1 year before dementia (DLB/PD) and 14 developed dementia before parkinsonism or at about the same time (DLB/AD). Striatal mean binding potential was decreased by 62 to 77% in the DLB/PD group and 45 to 67% in the DLB/AD compared to AD and control. Binding was lower in the DLB/PD group than the DLB/AD, but the differences reached only marginal significance in the caudate nucleus. No differences were found between AD and control groups though a few AD patients had binding values below the range of the controls. Subsequent neuropathological examination in one AD patient revealed both AD and DLB changes despite the absence of clinical parkinsonism. Both DLB groups had an anterior to posterior binding deficit gradient relative to controls, largest in posterior putamen, smaller in anterior putamen, smallest in caudate nucleus. The DLB/AD group showed significant binding asymmetry only in posterior putamen. We conclude that PET with (+)-[(11)C]DTBZ differentiates DLB from AD, and decreased binding in AD may indicate subclinical DLB pathology in addition to AD pathology.
Gilman
Sid
S
Department of Neurology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0316, USA. sgilman@umich.edu
Koeppe
Robert A
RA
Little
Roderick
R
An
Hyonggin
H
Junck
Larry
L
Giordani
Bruno
B
Persad
Carol
C
Heumann
Mary
M
Wernette
Kris
K
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D001344:Autopsy; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000187:drug effects; D015306:Biogenic Monoamines / Q000378:metabolism*; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020961:Lewy Body Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017729:Presynaptic Terminals / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D013747:Tetrabenazine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000379:methods
D015306:Biogenic Monoamines; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; C032811:dihydrotetrabenazine; D013747:Tetrabenazine