JuSpace: A tool for spatial correlation analyses of magnetic resonance imaging data with nuclear imaging derived neurotransmitter maps

• Published in: Human brain mapping Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 555 - 566
• Main Authors: Dukart, Juergen, Holiga, Stefan, Rullmann, Michael, Lanzenberger, Rupert, Hawkins, Peter C. T., Mehta, Mitul A., Hesse, Swen, Barthel, Henryk, Sabri, Osama, Jech, Robert, Eickhoff, Simon B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 15.02.2021
• Subjects: Blood flow; Brain mapping; Cerebral blood flow; Cerebrovascular Circulation - drug effects; Correlation analysis; Dopamine D2 receptors; Flumazenil; GABA; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Medical imaging; Movement disorders; Neurodegeneration; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neuroimaging; Neuroimaging - methods; neuropharmacology; Neurophysiology; Neurotransmission; Neurotransmitter Agents - pharmacology; Neurotransmitters; Norepinephrine; Parkinson Disease - diagnostic imaging; Parkinson Disease - metabolism; Parkinson's disease; Positron-Emission Tomography; Receptors, Neurotransmitter - drug effects; Resonance; Risperidone; Serotonin; Spatial analysis; Synaptic Transmission - physiology; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; γ-Aminobutyric acid; magnetic resonance imaging; Parkinson's disease; neurotransmission; positron emission tomography; neuropharmacology; neuroimaging
• ISSN: 1065-9471; 1097-0193
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25244

Recent studies have shown that drug‐induced spatial alteration patterns in resting state functional activity as measured using magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) are associated with the distribution of specific receptor systems targeted by respective compounds. Based on this approach, we introduce a toolbox (JuSpace) allowing for cross‐modal correlation of MRI‐based measures with nuclear imaging derived estimates covering various neurotransmitter systems including dopaminergic, serotonergic, noradrenergic, and GABAergic (gamma‐aminobutric acid) neurotransmission. We apply JuSpace to two datasets covering Parkinson's disease patients (PD) and risperidone‐induced changes in rsfMRI and cerebral blood flow (CBF). Consistently with the predominant neurodegeneration of dopaminergic and serotonergic system in PD, we find significant spatial associations between rsfMRI activity alterations in PD and dopaminergic (D2) and serotonergic systems (5‐HT1b). Risperidone induced CBF alterations were correlated with its main targets in serotonergic and dopaminergic systems. JuSpace provides a biologically meaningful framework for linking neuroimaging to underlying neurotransmitter information. Here, we introduce the JuSpace toolbox allowing for cross‐modal correlation of MRI‐based measures with nuclear imaging derived estimates covering various neurotransmitter systems including dopaminergic, serotonergic, noradrenergic, and GABAergic (gamma‐aminobutric acid) neurotransmission. The toolbox provides a biologically meaningful framework for linking neuroimaging to underlying neurotransmitter information.