TY - JOUR
T1 - Anxiety is associated with striatal dopamine transporter availability in newly diagnosed untreated Parkinson's disease patients
AU - Erro, Roberto
AU - Pappatà, Sabina
AU - Amboni, Marianna
AU - Vicidomini, Caterina
AU - Longo, Katia
AU - Santangelo, Gabriella
AU - Picillo, Marina
AU - Vitale, Carmine
AU - Moccia, Marcello
AU - Giordano, Flavio
AU - Brunetti, Arturo
AU - Pellecchia, Maria Teresa
AU - Salvatore, Marco
AU - Barone, Paolo
PY - 2012/11
Y1 - 2012/11
N2 - Background: Anxiety is a common non-motor symptom among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Although the etiology of anxiety in PD is likely to be multifactorial, a dysfunction in the dopaminergic system might be implicated in its pathogenesis. The aim of our study was to investigate a possible dopaminergic mechanism involved in anxiety in newly diagnosed never-medicated PD patients using SPECT and 123I-FP-CIT as the dopamine transporter ligand. Methods: Thirty-four newly diagnosed, untreated PD patients with asymmetric motor symptoms were included in the study: 17 patients with right- and 17 with left-motor onset, matched for age, disease duration and motor disability constituted the group. They were all evaluated for anxiety and depression and underwent an SPECT with 123I-FP-CIT. Dopamine transporter (DAT) availability values for right and left caudate and putamen were calculated and compared between patients with and without anxiety. Regression analyses were also performed in order to correlate DAT availability with the severity of the anxiety symptoms. Results: Comparison between PD patients with and those without anxiety revealed significant differences of DAT availability in all the examined regions except the right putamen. In the group of patients considered as a whole, a significant correlation was found between increased anxiety severity and decreased DAT availability in right caudate. Conclusions: We reported an association between nigrostriatal DAT availability deficits and anxiety symptoms in newly diagnosed, untreated PD patients. Our results suggest that hypofunction of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system may represent one of the functional anomalies involved in anxiety in PD from the earliest stages of disease and irrespective of any therapy.
AB - Background: Anxiety is a common non-motor symptom among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Although the etiology of anxiety in PD is likely to be multifactorial, a dysfunction in the dopaminergic system might be implicated in its pathogenesis. The aim of our study was to investigate a possible dopaminergic mechanism involved in anxiety in newly diagnosed never-medicated PD patients using SPECT and 123I-FP-CIT as the dopamine transporter ligand. Methods: Thirty-four newly diagnosed, untreated PD patients with asymmetric motor symptoms were included in the study: 17 patients with right- and 17 with left-motor onset, matched for age, disease duration and motor disability constituted the group. They were all evaluated for anxiety and depression and underwent an SPECT with 123I-FP-CIT. Dopamine transporter (DAT) availability values for right and left caudate and putamen were calculated and compared between patients with and without anxiety. Regression analyses were also performed in order to correlate DAT availability with the severity of the anxiety symptoms. Results: Comparison between PD patients with and those without anxiety revealed significant differences of DAT availability in all the examined regions except the right putamen. In the group of patients considered as a whole, a significant correlation was found between increased anxiety severity and decreased DAT availability in right caudate. Conclusions: We reported an association between nigrostriatal DAT availability deficits and anxiety symptoms in newly diagnosed, untreated PD patients. Our results suggest that hypofunction of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system may represent one of the functional anomalies involved in anxiety in PD from the earliest stages of disease and irrespective of any therapy.
KW - 123-I-FP-CIT SPECT
KW - Anxiety
KW - De novo
KW - Dopamine transporter
KW - Mood
KW - Parkinson's disease
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84869099099&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2012.05.022
DO - 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2012.05.022
M3 - Article
C2 - 22789824
AN - SCOPUS:84869099099
VL - 18
SP - 1034
EP - 1038
JO - Parkinsonism and Related Disorders
JF - Parkinsonism and Related Disorders
SN - 1353-8020
IS - 9
ER -