Research article summary (published 30 Mar 2004):

Caudate nucleus: influence of dopaminergic input on sequence learning and brain activation in Parkinsonism.

Full Abstract

In this study, we tested the hypotheses that (1) the acquisition of sequential information is related to the integrity of dopaminergic input to the caudate nucleus; and (2) the integrity of dopaminergic input to the caudate nucleus correlates significantly with brain activation during sequence acquisition. Twelve early stage Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and six age-matched healthy volunteers were scanned using a dual tracer PET imaging design. All subjects were scanned with [(18)F]fluoropropyl-betaCIT (FPCIT) to measure striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) binding and with [(15)O]water to assess activation during a sequence learning task where movements were made to a repeating sequence of eight targets. Caudate and putamen DAT binding in the PD cohort was reduced by 15% and 43%, respectively. In PD, caudate DAT binding correlated with target acquisition (R = 0.57, P < 0.05), while putamen DAT binding did not correlate with performance. In volunteers, caudate DAT binding correlated with learning-related activation (P < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons) in the left dorsolateral and ventral prefrontal cortices, the anterior cingulate and premotor regions, and the right cerebellum. A significant correlation with caudate DAT binding was additionally detected in the right anteromedial thalamus, extending into the rostral midbrain. By contrast, in the PD cohort, most of these regional relationships were lost: Only ventral and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation correlated with caudate dopaminergic tone. Our findings suggest that sequence learning is normally associated with tight coupling between dopaminergic input to the caudate and thalamo-cortical functional activity. Despite minimal reductions in nigro-caudate input, PD patients demonstrate a loss of this coupling early in the disease.

Author information

Author/s: Carbon, Maren (M); Ma, Yilong (Y); Barnes, Anna (A); Dhawan, Vijay (V); Chaly, Thomas (T); Ghilardi, Maria Felice (MF); Eidelberg, David (D);

Affiliation: Center for Neurosciences, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Research Institute, New York, NY 11030, USA.

Grants: K08 NS 01961 (Agency:NINDS NIH HHS) ; K24 NS 02101 (Agency:NINDS NIH HHS) ; P50 NS 38370 (Agency:NINDS NIH HHS) ; R01 NS 35069 (Agency:NINDS NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: NeuroImage (Neuroimage), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2004-Apr; vol 21 (issue 4) : pp 1497-507

Dates: Created 2004/03/30; Completed 2004/08/06; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 15050574, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Aged Arousal - physiology Brain Mapping Caudate Nucleus - physiopathology; radionuclide imaging Cerebellum - physiopathology; radionuclide imaging Corpus Striatum - physiopathology; radionuclide imaging Dominance, Cerebral - physiology Dopamine - physiology Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins Female Fluorine Radioisotopes - diagnostic use Humans Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted Kinesthesis - physiology

Male Membrane Glycoproteins Membrane Transport Proteins - physiology Middle Aged Nerve Net - physiopathology; radionuclide imaging Nerve Tissue Proteins - physiology Parkinson Disease - physiopathology; radionuclide imaging Prefrontal Cortex - physiopathology; radionuclide imaging Psychomotor Performance - physiology Putamen - physiopathology; radionuclide imaging Serial Learning - physiology Thalamus - physiopathology; radionuclide imaging Tomography, Emission-Computed Tropanes - diagnostic use

Associated Chemicals: Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins (0) ; Fluorine Radioisotopes (0) ; Membrane Glycoproteins (0) ; Membrane Transport Proteins (0) ; Nerve Tissue Proteins (0) ; SLC6A3 protein, human (0) ; Tropanes (0) ; 2-carbomethoxy-8-(3-fluoropropyl)-3-(4-iodophenyl)tropane (155797-99-2) ; Dopamine (51-61-6)

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