2003 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Elucidation of cause and establishment of melatonin therapy in REM sleep behavior disorder
| Project/Area Number |
12670966
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Psychiatric science
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| Research Institution | KURUME UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
UCHIMURA Naohisa Kurume University, Med, Associate Professor, 医学部, 助教授 (10248411)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
HABUKAWA Mitsunari Kurume University, Med, Medical Assistant, 医学部, 助手 (40343701)
HARANO Mutsuo Kurume University, Med, Medical Assistant, 医学部, 助手 (20289490)
TAKEUCHI Noboru Kurume University, Med, Medical Assistant, 医学部, 助手 (80360296)
YAMAMOTO Katsuyasu Kurume University, Med, Medical Assistant, 医学部, 助手 (60368925)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2000 – 2003
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| Keywords | REM sleep behavior disoder / polysomnography / melatonin / SPECT / SSRI / melatonin receptor gene / cerebral blood flow / MRI |
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| Research Abstract |
Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a parasomnia with clinical symptoms that include punching, kicking, yelling and leaping out of bed in sleep. Polysomnographic (PSG) finding showed REM sleep without muscle atonia. Clonazepam is generally used for treating RBD symptoms but occasionally induce side effects including muscle weakness and excessive morning sedation, so we investigated the effect of melatonin on RBD patients in the present study. We used melatonin (36rng/day) which could ameliorate problem sleep behaviors remarkably, as well as %tonic activity in PSG variables. In the present study, melatonin was investigated to be effective in RBD symptoms, especially for patients with low melatonin secretion, while its mechanism was not clearly known in the present study.
To elucidate the cause of indiopathic rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disoder (RBD), magnetic resonance imaging and single-photon emission computed tomography of the brain were conducted on patients with RBD. Blood flow in the upper portion of both sides of the frontal lobe and pons was significantly lower in patients with RBD than in the normal elderly group. Among the patients with RBD, decreased blood flow in the frontal lobe showed no correlation with the extent of frontal lobe atrophy. Decreased blood flow in the upper portion of the frontal lobe and pons might be associated with the pathogenesis of idiopathic RBD.
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