AUTHOR=Isaias Ioannis Ugo , Spiegel Jörg , Brumberg Joachim , Cosgrove Kelly P. , Marotta Giorgio , Oishi Naoya , Higuchi Takahiro , Küsters Sebastian , Schiller Markus , Dillmann Ulrich , van Dyck Christopher H. , Buck Andreas , Herrmann Ken , Schloegl Susanne , Volkmann Jens , Lassmann Michael , Fassbender Klaus , Lorenz Reinhard , Samnick Samuel TITLE=Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Density in Cognitively Intact Subjects at an Early Stage of Parkinson’s Disease JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience VOLUME=6 YEAR=2014 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2014.00213 DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2014.00213 ISSN=1663-4365 ABSTRACT=

We investigated in vivo brain nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) distribution in cognitively intact subjects with Parkinson’s disease (PD) at an early stage of the disease. Fourteen patients and 13 healthy subjects were imaged with single photon emission computed tomography and the radiotracer 5-[123I]iodo-3-[2(S)-2-azetidinylmethoxy]pyridine ([123I]5IA). Patients were selected according to several criteria, including short duration of motor signs (<7 years) and normal scores at an extensive neuropsychological evaluation. In PD patients, nAChR density was significantly higher in the putamen, the insular cortex and the supplementary motor area and lower in the caudate nucleus, the orbitofrontal cortex, and the middle temporal gyrus. Disease duration positively correlated with nAChR density in the putamen ipsilateral (ρ = 0.56, p < 0.05) but not contralateral (ρ = 0.49, p = 0.07) to the clinically most affected hemibody. We observed, for the first time in vivo, higher nAChR density in brain regions of the motor and limbic basal ganglia circuits of subjects with PD. Our findings support the notion of an up-regulated cholinergic activity at the striatal and possibly cortical level in cognitively intact PD patients at an early stage of disease.