Evidence for a dopaminergic deficit in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis on positron emission scanning

Journal Article · Sat Oct 23 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · Lancet; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0140-6736(93)92878-W· OSTI ID:5775151

Takahashi, Hirohide; Snow, B J; Bhatt, M H; Peppard, R; Eisen, A; Calne, D B ^[1]

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1. Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver (Canada)

Although rare, the chronic neurodegenerative disorders amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and idiopathic parkinsonism coexist to a greater degree than expected by chance. This suggests that patients with ALS may have subclinical lesions of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway. To study this hypothesis, the authors did positron emission tomography with 6-fluorodopa on 16 patients with sporadic ALS and without extrapyramidal disease, and compared the results with age-matched controls. They found a significant progressive fall in 6-fluorodopa uptake with time since diagnosis, and reduced dopaminergic function in 3 patients with ALS of long duration. This supports the hypothesis that ALS and IP may share pathogenesis, and, perhaps, etiology.

• OSTI ID: 5775151
• Journal Information: Lancet; (United States), Vol. 342:8878; ISSN 0099-5355
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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