1. Li W, Lao-Kaim NP, Roussakis AA, et al. 11C-PE2I and 18 F-Dopa PET for
Assessing Progression Rate in Parkinson’s: A longitudinal study. Mov Disord
2018;33:117–127.
2. Spiegel J, Möllers MO, Jost WH, et al. FP-CIT and MIBG scintigraphy in Early
Parkinson’s Disease. Mov Disord 2005;20:552–561.
3. Winogrodzka A, Bergmans P, Booij J, et al. [123I]β-CIT SPECT is a useful method
for monitoring dopaminergic degeneration in early stage Parkinson’s disease. J
Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2003;74:294–298.
4. Moccia M, Pappatà S, Picillo M, et al. Dopamine transporter availability in motor
subtypes of de novo drug-naïve Parkinson’s disease. J Neurol 2014;261:2112–2118.
5. Ishikawa T, Dhawan V, Kazumata K, et al. Comparative Nigrostriatal Dopaminergic
Imaging with Iodine-123-βCIT-FP/SPECT and Fluorine-18-FDOPA/PET. J Nucl
Med 1996;37:1760–1765.
6. Seibyl JP, Marek KL, Quinlan D, et al. Decreased Single-Photon Emission Computed
Tomographic {123I}β-CIT Striatal Uptake Correlates with Symptom severity in
Parkinson’s Disease. Ann Neurol 1995;38:589–598.
7. Benamer HTS, Patterson J, Wyper DJ, et al. Correlation of Parkinson’s Disease
Severity and Duration with 123I‐FP‐CIT SPECT Striatal Uptake. Mov Disord
2000;15:692-698.
8. Rinne JO, Ruottinen H, Bergman J, et al. Usefulness of a dopamine transporter PET
ligand [18F]β -CFT in assessing disability in Parkinson’s disease. J Neurol
Neurosurg Psychiatry 1999;67:737–741.
9. Nandhagopal R, Kuramoto L, Schulzer M, et al. Longitudinal progression of sporadic
Parkinson’s disease: a multi-tracer positron emission tomography study. Brain 2009;
132:2970–2979.
10. Badoud S, Nicastro N, Garibotto V, et al. Distinct spatiotemporal patterns for
disease duration and stage in Parkinson’s disease. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging
2016;43:509–516.
11. Booij J, Tissingh G, Boer GJ, et al. [123I]FP-CIT SPECT shows a pronounced
decline of striatal dopamine transporter labelling in early and advanced Parkinson’s
disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1997; 62:133-140.
12. Kuramoto L, Cragg J, Nandhagopal R, et al. The Nature of Progression in
Parkinson’s Disease: An Application of Non-Linear, Multivariate, Longitudinal
Random Effects Modelling. PLoS One 2013;8:e76595.
13. Asari S, Fujimoto K, Miyauchi A, et al. Subregional 6-[18F]fluoro-L-m-tyrosine
Uptake in the Striatum in Parkinson’s Disease. BMC Neurol 2011;11:35
14. Kaasinen V, Vahlberg T. Striatal Dopamine in Parkinson Disease: A Meta‐Analysis
of Imaging Studies. Ann Neurol 2017;82:873–882.
15. Hsiao I-T, Weng Y-H, Hsieh C-J, et al. Correlation of Parkinson Disease Severity
and 18 F-DTBZ Positron Emission Tomography. JAMA Neurol 2014;71:758-766.
16. Kordower JH, Olanow CW, Dodiya HB, et al. Disease duration and the integrity of
the nigrostriatal system in Parkinson’s disease. Brain 2013;136:2419–2431.
17. Wang J, Li Y, Huang Z, et al. Neuromelanin-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging
features of the substantia nigra and locus coeruleus in de novo Parkinson's disease
and its phenotypes. Eur J Neurol 2018;25:949–e73.
18. Castellanos G, Fernández-Seara MA, Lorenzo-Betancor O, et al. Automated
Neuromelanin Imaging as a Diagnostic Biomarker for Parkinson’s Disease. Mov
Disord 2015;30:945–952.
19. Huddleston DE, Langley J, Sedlacik J, et al. In vivo detection of lateral-ventral tier
nigral degeneration in Parkinson’s disease: MRI of Lateral-Ventral SNc in PD. Hum
Brain Mapp 2017;38:2627-2634.
20. Isaias IU, Trujillo P, Summers P, et al. Neuromelanin Imaging and Dopaminergic
Loss in Parkinson’s Disease. Front Aging Neurosci 2016;22:8:196.
21. Schwarz ST, Xing Y, Tomar P, et al. In Vivo Assessment of Brainstem
Depigmentation in Parkinson Disease: Potential as a Severity Marker for Multicenter
Studies. Radiology 2017;283:789–798.
22. Burke RE, O’Malley K. Axon degeneration in Parkinson’s disease. Exp Neurol
2013;246:72–83.
23. Fasano A, Fung VSC, Lopiano L, et al. Characterizing advanced Parkinson’s
disease: OBSERVE-PD observational study results of 2615 patients. BMC Neurol
2019;19:50.
24. Evans A, Fung VSC, O’Sullivan JD, et al. Characteristics of advanced Parkinson’s
disease patients seen in movement disorder clinics - Australian results from the
cross-sectional OBSERVE study. Clin Park Relat Disord 2021;4:100075.
25. Postuma RB, Berg D, Stern M, et al. MDS Clinical Diagnostic Criteria for
Parkinson’s Disease. Mov Disord 2015; 30:1591–1601.
26. Goetz CG, Tilley BC, Shaftman SR, et al. Movement Disorder Society-sponsored
revision of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS): Scale
Presentation and Clinimetric Testing Results. Mov Disord 2008;23:2129-2170.
27. Langston JW, Widner H, Goetz CG, et al. Core assessment Program for
intracerebral transplantations (CAPIT). Mov Disord 1992;7:2-13.
28. Kraft E, Loichinger W, Diepers M, et al. Levodopa-induced striatal activation in
Parkinson’s disease: A functional MRI study. Parkinsonism Relat Disord
2009;15:558–563.
29. Espay AJ, Norris MM, Eliassen JC, et al. Placebo effect of medication cost in
Parkinson disease: A randomized double-blind study. Neurology 2015;84:794–802.
30. Tomlinson CL, Stowe R, Patel S, et al. Systematic Review of Levodopa dose
Equivalency Reporting in Parkinson’s disease. Mov Disord 2010;25:2649–2685.
31. Smith SM, Jenkinson M, Woolrich MW, et al. Advances in functional and structural
MR image analysis and implementation as FSL. Neuroimage 2004;23:S208–S219.
32. Andersson JLR, Jenkinson M, Smith S. Non-linear registration, aka spatial
normalisation, FMRIB technical report 2010:TR07JA2.
33. García-Lorenzo D, Longo-Dos Santos C, Ewenczyk C, et al. The
coeruleus/subcoeruleus complex in rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorders in
Parkinson’s disease. Brain 2013;136:2120–2129.
34. Jenkinson M, Smith S. A global optimisation method for robust affine registration
of brain images. Med Image Anal 2001;5:143–56.
35. Biondetti E, Gaurav R, Yahia-Cherif L, et al. Spatiotemporal changes in substantia
nigra neuromelanin content in Parkinson’s disease. Brain 2020;143:2757–2770.
36. DeLong MR. Primate models of movement disorders of basal ganglia origin. Trends
Neurosci 1990:13:281-285.
37. Miller GW, Staley JK, Heilman CJ, et al. Immunochemical Analysis of Dopamine
Transporter Protein in Parkinson’s Disease. Ann Neurol 1997;41:530–539.
38. Tabbal SD, Tian L, Karimi M, et al. Low nigrostriatal reserve for motor
parkinsonism in nonhuman primates. Exp Neurol 2012;237:355–362.
39. Rommelfanger KS, Wichmann T. Extrastriatal dopaminergic circuits of the basal
ganglia. Front Neuroanat 2010;27:139.
40. Abercrombie, ED, Bonatz AE, Zigmoid MJ. Effects of L-DOPA on extracellular
dopamine in striatum of normal and 6-hydroxydopamine-treated rats. Brain Res
1990;525:36-44.
41. Lindgren HS, Andersson DR, Lagerkvist S, et al. L-DOPA-induced dopamine efflux
in the striatum and the substantia nigra in a rat model of Parkinson’s disease:
temporal and quantitative relationship to the expression of dyskinesia. J Neurochem
2010;112:1465–1476.
42. Braivi D, Mouradian M.M, Roberts J.W, et al. Wearing-off Fluctuations in
Parkinson’s Disease: Contribution of Postsynaptic Mechanisms. Ann Neurol
1994;36:27-31.
43. Cheramy A, Leviel V, Glowinski J. Dendritic release of dopamine in the substantia
nigra. Nature 1981;289:537–542.
44. Robertson G, Robertson H. Evidence that L-dopa-induced rotational behavior is
dependent on both striatal and nigral mechanisms. J Neurosci 1989;9:3326–3331.
45. Brown CA, Karimi MK, Tian L, et al. Validation of midbrain positron emission
tomography measures for nigrostriatal neurons in macaques: Nigral PET and
Parkinsonism. Ann Neurol 2013;74:602–610.
46. Cheng HC, Ulane CM, Burke RE. Clinical progression in Parkinson disease and the
neurobiology of axons. Ann Neurol 2010;67:715–725.
47. Tofaris GK, Reitbo ̈ck PG, Humby T, et al. Pathological Changes in Dopaminergic
Nerve Cells of the Substantia Nigra and Olfactory Bulb in Mice Transgenic for
Truncated Human -Synuclein (1-120): Implications for Lewy Body Disorders. J
Neurosci 2006 12;26:3942–3950.
48. Martin I, Dawson VL, Dawson TM. Recent Advances in the Genetics of
Parkinson’s Disease. Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet 2011;12:301–325.
49. Uchihara T, Giasson BI. Propagation of alpha-synuclein pathology: hypotheses,
discoveries, and yet unresolved questions from experimental and human brain
studies. Acta Neuropathol 2016;131:49–73.
50. Haber SN. The primate basal ganglia: parallel and integrative networks. J Chem
Neuroanat 2003;26:317–330.
51. Damier P, Hirsch EC, Agid Y, et al. The substantia nigra of the human brain II.
Patterns of loss of dopamine-containing neurons in Parkinson’s disease. Brain
1999:122:1437-1448.
52. Schaltenbrand G, Wahren W. Atlas for Stereotaxy of the Human Brain. 2nd ed.
Stuttgart: Thieme Medical Pub, 1977.
Figure Legends
Figure 1 Definition of the neuromelanin (NM)-positive region in the substantia
nigra (SN) and reference region in the rostral pons. Top left: A group-averaged NM
map was delineated in the SN by manually outlining the hyperintense area on the
NM-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) template generated from healthy control
participants (orange). NM accumulates in dopamine neurons which are rich in the SN
pars compacta, although boundaries between the SN pars compacta and SN pars
reticulata are difficult to identify with MRI. Top right: The reference region was set in
the rostral pontine area on the NM-MRI template (yellow). The reference region on the
template was transformed on an individual NM-MRI to normalize the signal intensity
by removing inter-participant variability. Bottom left: The group-averaged NM map on
the template was projected on the individual NM-MRI acquired perpendicular to the
cerebral aqueduct, and hyperintense voxels having above 50th percentile value in the
projected NM map were selected. For display purposes, representative healthy control
participant data are represented (green). The mean signal intensity of the selected voxels
was computed as the contrast ratio (CR) of SN. Bottom right: Hyperintense voxels
having suprathreshold intensity, that is, 1.05, in the registered NM map were identified,
and total volumes were calculated as the volume of NM-positive regions.
Representative healthy control participant data are displayed (magenta).
Figure 2 Correlation between MDS-UPDRS Part III score and the striatal uptake
ratio (A) and the contrast ratio (CR) (B) and volume (C) of the neuromelanin
(NM)-positive region in the substantia nigra (SN) at early- (disease duration ≤8
years: blue) and advanced-stage (disease duration >8 years: red) of Parkinson’s
disease. The striatal uptake ratio, substantia nigra CR and volume were adjusted for the
effects of age and sex by linear regression. Regression lines are presented for each stage
(solid line: statistically significant; dotted line: nonsignificant). The MDS-UPDRS Part
III score was evaluated during the drug-off state.
Figure 3 Correlation between MDS-UPDRS Part III score and the striatal uptake
ratio (A) and the contrast ratio (CR) (B) and volume (C) of the neuromelanin
(NM)-positive region in the substantia nigra (SN) in Parkinson’s disease (PD)
patients without (gray cross) and with motor fluctuation (black dot). The striatal
uptake ratio, substantia nigra CR and volume were adjusted for the effects of age and
sex by linear regression. Regression lines are presented for each group (PD without
motor fluctuation: gray; PD with motor fluctuation: black; solid line: statistically
significant; dotted line: nonsignificant). The MDS-UPDRS Part III score was evaluated
during the drug-off state.
Figure 4 Correlation between the striatal uptake ratio and the contrast ratio (CR)
(A) and volume (B) of the neuromelanin (NM)-positive region in the substantia
nigra (SN) at early- (disease duration ≤8 years: blue) and advanced-stage (disease
duration >8 years: red) of patients with Parkinson’s disease. Regression lines are
presented for each stage (solid line: statistically significant; dotted line: nonsignificant).
Figure 5 Correlation between the striatal uptake ratio and the contrast ratio (CR)
(A) and volume (B) of the neuromelanin (NM)-positive region in the substantia
nigra (SN) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients without (gray cross) and with
motor fluctuation (black dot). Regression lines are presented for each group (PD
without motor fluctuation: gray; PD with motor fluctuation: black; solid line:
statistically significant; dotted line: nonsignificant).
Table 1. Clinical characteristics of patients with early (disease duration ≤ 8 years) and advanced
Parkinson’s disease (> 8 years)
≤8 years (n=45)
>8 years (n=48)
P value
Age
63.3 ± 10.9
64.1 ± 7.6
0.71a
Female:Male
22:23
28:20
0.36b
Disease duration
4.7 ± 2.3
11.5 ± 3.2
<0.0001a
LEDD
407.8 ± 362.7
807.2 ± 376.1
<0.0001a
Hoehn and Yahr (off)
2.3 ± 0.9
3.3 ± 1.2
<0.0001a
Hoehn and Yahr (on)
1.9 ± 0.5
2.1 ± 0.5
<0.01a
MDS-UPDRS Part III score (off)
34.8 ± 12.1
46.5 ± 16.6
<0.001a
MDS-UPDRS Part III score (on)
21.3 ± 10.2
20.8 ± 10.8
0.81a
Independent t-test and bPearson's chi-square test used for both groups. On = drug-on state; off = drug-off
state. LEDD = levodopa daily equivalent dose
Table 2. Clinical characteristics of patients with early (disease duration ≤10 years) and advanced
Parkinson’s disease (>10 years)
≤10 years (n=66)
>10 years (n=27)
P value
Age
63.6±9.9
63.9±7.8
0.89a
Female: Male
34:32
16:11
0.50b
Disease duration
6.0 ± 2.7
13.7 ± 2.7
<0.0001a
LEDD
482.5 ± 361.9
935.2 ± 377.2
<0.0001a
Hoehn and Yahr (off)
2.4 ± 0.9
3.9 ± 1.1
<0.0001a
Hoehn and Yahr (on)
1.9 ± 0.5
2.2 ± 0.6
< 0.05a
MDS-UPDRS Part III score (off)
38.1 ± 13.6
47.4 ± 18.4
< 0.01a
MDS-UPDRS Part III score (on)
21.3 ± 10.5
20.3 ± 10.7
0.65a
Independent t-test and bPearson's chi-square test for the two groups. On=drug-on state; off=drug-off state.
LEDD = levodopa daily equivalent dose.
Table 3. Clinical characteristics of Parkinson’s disease patients without and with motor fluctuation
Without motor fluctuation With motor fluctuation
P value
(n=31)
(n = 62)
Age
64.9 ± 12.0
63.1 ± 7.6
0.37a
Female:Male
17:14
33:29
0.88b
Disease duration
4.3 ± 3.1
10.2 ± 3.7
< 0.0001a
LEDD
237.4 ± 233.3
802.2 ± 360.3
< 0.0001a
Hoehn and Yahr (off)
2.0 ± 0.7
3.2 ± 1.1
< 0.0001a
Hoehn and Yahr (on)
1.8 ± 0.5
2.1 ± 0.5
< 0.01a
MDS-UPDRS Part III score (off) 33.0 ± 12.4
44.7 ± 15.7
< 0.001a
MDS-UPDRS Part III score (on)
20.3 ± 10.1
0.37a
22.4 ± 11.3
Independent t-test and bPearson's chi-square test for the two groups. On = drug-on state; off = drug-off
state. LEDD = levodopa daily equivalent dose.
...