title: Putamen-midbrain functional connectivity is related to striatal dopamine transporter availability in patients with Lewy body diseases.
abstract: Prior work has shown that functional connectivity between the midbrain and putamen is altered in patients with impairments in the dopamine system. This study examines whether individual differences in midbrain-striatal connectivity are proportional to the integrity of the dopamine system in patients with nigrostriatal dopamine loss (Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies). We assessed functional connectivity of the putamen during resting state fMRI and dopamine transporter (DAT) availability in the striatum using 11C-Altropane PET in twenty patients. In line with the hypothesis that functional connectivity between the midbrain and the putamen reflects the integrity of the dopaminergic neurotransmitter system, putamen-midbrain functional connectivity was significantly correlated with striatal DAT availability even after stringent control for effects of head motion. DAT availability did not relate to functional connectivity between the caudate and thalamus/prefrontal areas. As such, resting state functional connectivity in the midbrain-striatal pathway may provide a useful indicator of underlying pathology in patients with nigrostriatal dopamine loss.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA ; Department of Radiation Sciences, Diagnostic Radiology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rieckmann
authors.affiliation: MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease, Boston MA 02129, USA ; Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Gomperts
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA ; Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Growdon
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA ; Harvard University, Department of Psychology, Center for Brain Science, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: K R A
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Van Dijk
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020961:Lewy Body Disease / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D011699:Putamen / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins
keywords: DAT, dopamine transporter; DVR, distribution volume ratio; Dopamine transporter; Functional connectivity; LBD, Lewy body diseases; Lewy body diseases; PET; ROI, region of interest; UPDRS, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale; fMRI