title: [Dementia with Lewy bodies and reduced dopamine transporter binding indicates significant acetylcholine deficiency].
abstract: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common form of neurodegenerative dementia. It is usually caused by a mixture of symptoms of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease leading to a significant impairment of nigro-striatal dopaminergic and baso-cortical cholinergic neurotransmission with typical clinical symptoms of a fluctuating course, hallucinations, parkinsonism, REM-sleep disorder and neuroleptic hypersensitivity. If the clinical presentation of DLB is uncharacteristic, the demonstration of reduced presynaptic striatal dopamine transporter (DaT) sites supports a suspicion of DLB and may lead to important therapeutic consequences. In these circumstances this evidence for compromised dopaminergic neurotransmission also indicates a significant cholinergic deficit: both require diligent therapeutic attention.
authors.affiliation: Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie der TU München. Hans.Foerstl@lrz.tu-muenchen.de
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Förstl
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gratz
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jarnig
mesh_terms: D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000032:analysis / Q000172:deficiency*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D016631:Lewy Bodies / Q000473:pathology; D020961:Lewy Body Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D000109:Acetylcholine