†These authors contributed equally.
Academic Editor: Gernot Riedel
Background and Purpose: REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) in
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is associated with characteristic clinical subtypes and
prognosis. In addition, nigrostriatal pathway, the most vulnerable anatomical
area in PD, formed neuronal network interplaying with cortical and subcortical
structures, and which may cause PD clinical phenotype. We evaluated the regional
selectivity of presynaptic striatal dopaminergic denervation associated with RBD
in PD. Methods: We compared two groups (n = 16) of PD patients with and
without RBD in terms of specific binding ratios (SBR) in subregions of the
striatum, which were measured using positron emission tomography with 18F-FP-CIT.
SBRs of the anterior and posterior caudate, ventral striatum, and posterior and
ventral putamen regions were measured in more or less affected side, and right or
left side, or bilateral sum of the striatum. Results: Age, disease
duration, and severity of parkinsonism were not significantly different between
groups. Although group differences in all areas were not significant with
multiple comparison corrections, SBR of the ventral striatum and anterior caudate
in sum of both sides was significantly less in the RBD than in the non-RBD group
without correction (p