Striatal dopamine in Parkinson disease: A meta-analysis of imaging studies

Ann Neurol. 2017 Dec;82(6):873-882. doi: 10.1002/ana.25103. Epub 2017 Dec 5.

Abstract

A meta-analysis of 142 positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography studies that have investigated striatal presynaptic dopamine function in Parkinson disease (PD) was performed. Subregional estimates of striatal dopamine metabolism are presented. The aromatic L-amino-acid decarboxylase (AADC) defect appears to be consistently smaller than the dopamine transporter and vesicular monoamine transporter 2 defects, suggesting upregulation of AADC function in PD. The correlation between disease severity and dopamine loss appears linear, but the majority of longitudinal studies point to a negative exponential progression pattern of dopamine loss in PD. Ann Neurol 2017;82:873-882.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Corpus Striatum / diagnostic imaging*
  • Corpus Striatum / metabolism*
  • Dopamine / metabolism*
  • Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Parkinson Disease / diagnostic imaging*
  • Parkinson Disease / metabolism*
  • Positron-Emission Tomography / methods
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / methods

Substances

  • Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins
  • Dopamine