title: Staging of serotonergic dysfunction in Parkinson's disease: an in vivo 11C-DASB PET study.
abstract: Thirty Parkinson's disease (PD) patients were divided into three equal groups according to their disease duration while 10 normal healthy volunteers matched for age and sex served as a control group. Striatal and extrastriatal serotonergic function was studied with (11)C-DASB PET, a marker of serotonin transporter availability. (11)C-DASB binding was correlated with disease disability and exposure to dopaminergic therapy. We found significant (11)C-DASB binding reductions in striatal, brainstem, and cortical regions in PD but no correlations were evident between (11)C-DASB binding and UPDRS scores, Hoehn &Yahr staging, disease duration and level of exposure to dopaminergic therapy. Our results suggest that progressive non-linear serotonergic dysfunction occurs in PD but it does not determine levels of disability. Additionally, chronic exposure to dopaminergic therapy does not appear to influence SERT binding.
authors.affiliation: MRC Clinical Sciences Centre and Centre for Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London, UK. marios.politis@imperial.ac.uk
authors.forename: Marios
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Politis
authors.forename: Kit
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Loane
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kiferle
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Molloy
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Piccini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001596:Benzylamines; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012701:Serotonin / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000502:physiology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D001596:Benzylamines; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; C420885:N,N-dimethyl-2-(2-amino-4-cyanophenylthio)benzylamine; D012701:Serotonin