Brain metabolism differs in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease dementia.
BACKGROUND
Few comparative studies exist of metabolic brain changes among neurodegenerative illnesses. We compared brain metabolic abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in Parkinson's disease with dementia (PDD) as measured by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS).


METHODS
Twelve patients with idiopathic PDD, 22 patients with probable mild AD, and 61 healthy older controls underwent posterior cingulate MRS.


RESULTS
Patients with AD exhibited reduced N-acetyl aspartate (NAA)/creatine (Cr) (P < .05) and increased choline (Cho)/Cr (P < .05) and myo-inositol (mI)/Cr (P < .01) compared with controls. Patients with PDD exhibited reduced NAA/Cr (P < .05) and glutamate (Glu)/Cr (P < .01) compared with controls. There was reduced Glu/Cr in PDD compared with AD (P < .01).


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with AD and patients with PDD exhibited distinct brain metabolic MRS profiles. Findings suggest that comparison of brain MRS profiles across dementias provides useful direction for future study.
Griffith
H Randall
HR
Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA. rlgriffith@uabmc.edu
den Hollander
Jan A
JA
Okonkwo
Ozioma C
OC
O'Brien
Timothy
T
Watts
Ray L
RL
Marson
Daniel C
DC
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D018697:Nootropic Agents / Q000378:metabolism; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology
D018697:Nootropic Agents; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D003401:Creatine; D002794:Choline