Cerebral Metabolic Differences Associated with Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson's Disease

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 11; no. 4; p. e0152716
• Main Authors: Tang, Yilin, Ge, Jingjie, Liu, Fengtao, Wu, Ping, Guo, Sisi, Liu, Zhenyang, Wang, Yixuan, Wang, Ying, Ding, Zhengtong, Wu, Jianjun, Zuo, Chuantao, Wang, Jian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 11.04.2016; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Aged; Analysis; Biology and Life Sciences; Brain - metabolism; Brain - physiopathology; Cerebral Cortex - metabolism; Cerebral Cortex - physiopathology; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Cognitive Dysfunction - etiology; Cognitive Dysfunction - metabolism; Cortex; Dementia; Dementia - etiology; Dementia - metabolism; Dementia disorders; Dopamine; Female; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Glucose metabolism; Humans; Hypometabolism; Impairment; Levodopa; Levodopa - metabolism; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental depression; Metabolism; Metabolites; Middle Aged; Movement disorders; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neurology; Neuropsychological Tests; Nuclear medicine; Occipital lobes; Parahippocampal gyrus; Parkinson disease; Parkinson Disease - complications; Parkinson Disease - metabolism; Parkinson's disease; Patients; Positron emission; Positron emission tomography; Positron-Emission Tomography - methods; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk factors; Social Sciences; Studies; Tomography; China
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152716

To characterize cerebral glucose metabolism associated with different cognitive states in Parkinson's disease (PD) using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Three groups of patients were recruited in this study including PD patients with dementia (PDD; n = 10), with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI; n = 20), and with no cognitive impairment (PD-NC; n = 30). The groups were matched for age, sex, education, disease duration, motor disability, levodopa equivalent dose and Geriatric Depression Rating Scale (GDS) score. All subjects underwent a FDG-PET study. Maps of regional metabolism in the three groups were compared using statistical parametric mapping (SPM5). PD-MCI patients exhibited limited areas of hypometabolism in the frontal, temporal and parahippocampal gyrus compared with the PD-NC patients (p < 0.01). PDD patients had bilateral areas of hypometabolism in the frontal and posterior parietal-occipital lobes compared with PD-MCI patients (p < 0.01), and exhibited greater metabolic reductions in comparison with PD-NC patients (p < 0.01). Compared with PD-NC patients, hypometabolism was much higher in the PDD patients than in PD-MCI patients, mainly in the posterior cortical areas. The result might suggest an association between posterior cortical hypometabolism and more severe cognitive impairment. PD-MCI might be important for early targeted therapeutic intervention and disease modification.