title: Apathy and striatal dopamine transporter levels in de-novo, untreated Parkinson's disease patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Apathy is a neuropsychiatric symptom in Parkinson's Disease (PD) which has a negative impact on quality of life and might be related in part to damage of presynaptic dopaminergic system. Little is known about relationship between striatal dopamine levels and apathy in PD patients without dementia and/or depression. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between "pure apathy" and striatal dopamine uptake in untreated, drug-naïve PD patients without clinically significant dementia and/or depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourteen PD patients with pure apathy and 14 PD patients without apathy, matched for age, side of motor symptoms at onset, motor disability and disease duration, underwent both neuropsychological and behavioral examination including self-rated version of the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES-S). All patients underwent 123 I-FP-CIT (DaT-SCAN) SPECT to assess dopamine transporter (DAT) striatal uptake.
  
  
  RESULTS
  PD patients with apathy showed lower DAT levels in the striatum than non-apathetic patients. After Bonferroni correction the difference between groups was significant in the right caudate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Apathy is associated with reduced striatal dopamine transporter levels, independent of motor disability and depression in non-demented PD patients. These findings suggest that dysfunction of dopaminergic innervation in the striatum and particularly in the right caudate may contribute to development of apathy in early PD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Caserta, Italy; IDC-Hermitage-Capodimonte, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Santangelo
authors.affiliation: IDC-Hermitage-Capodimonte, Naples, Italy; University Parthenope, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Carmine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vitale
authors.affiliation: Neurodegenerative Diseases Center, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Picillo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cuoco
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Science and Odontostomatology, Federico II University, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moccia
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Domenica
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pezzella
authors.affiliation: Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, University College London (UCL) Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Erro
authors.affiliation: IDC-Hermitage-Capodimonte, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Katia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Longo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biostructure and Bioimaging, CNR, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vicidomini
authors.affiliation: Neurodegenerative Diseases Center, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Pellecchia
authors.affiliation: IDC-Hermitage-Capodimonte, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Marianna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amboni
authors.affiliation: Department of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brunetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salvatore
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Science and Odontostomatology, Federico II University, Naples, Italy. Electronic address: pbarone@unisa.it.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barone
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biostructure and Bioimaging, CNR, Naples, Italy. Electronic address: sabina.pappata@ibb.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Sabina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pappatà
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D057565:Apathy / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism*; D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins
keywords: Apathy; Behavioral disorders; Dopamine; Non-motor symptoms; Parkinson's disease; [123] FP-CIT SPECT