| Title | Dopamine transporter imaging under high-dose transdermal nicotine therapy in Parkinson's disease: an observational study. | | Author(s) | Itti E, Villafane G, Malek Z, Brugières P, Capacchione D, Itti L, Maison P, Cesaro P, Meignan M | | Institution | Departments of aNuclear Medicine bNeurology cNeuroradiology dClinical Research Unit, H. Mondor Hospital, AP-HP, Paris 12 University, Créteil, France eDepartment of Computer Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. | | Source | Nucl Med Commun 2009 May 15. | | Abstract | OBJECTIVES: Nicotine therapy might improve the course of Parkinson's disease. This observational study evaluated the performance of dopamine transporter imaging in follow-up patients under nicotine therapy.
METHODS: Six Hoehn and Yahr stage III patients underwent I-FP-CIT imaging prior to, 3 months, and 1 year after the onset of nicotine therapy. Nicotine was administered transdermally with increasing daily doses during 3 months (up to 105 mg/day) and decreased progressively. On co-registered magnetic resonance imaging, striatal regions of interest were drawn and binding potentials of I-FP-CIT were calculated. Changes in Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-III over time were compared with binding potentials using regression analysis.
RESULTS: All patients improved motor scores at 3 months (-65+/-22% 'off', -89+/-12% 'on') and most received fewer dopaminergic drugs (-30% dosage in average). Motor improvement persisted to a lesser extent at 1 year (-39+/-31% 'off', -13+/-43% 'on'), partly because one patient stopped the treatment. Interestingly, the decrease in binding potentials (-4.0+/-10.5%) was slower than that expected in Parkinsonian patients (usually -10% per year) and was inversely correlated with Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-III improvement, r = 0.83 'off' and 0.91 'on'.
CONCLUSION: This observational study emphasizes a potential effect of nicotine therapy on striatal dopamine transporter density, which may be interpreted as direct pharmacological effect or deceleration of neuronal loss. | | Language | ENG | | Pub Type(s) | JOURNAL ARTICLE
| | PubMed ID | 19451839 |
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