Elucidation of pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease by neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K19854
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Radiation science
• Research Institution: Juntendo University
• Principal Investigator: Kamagata Koji 順天堂大学, 医学部, 准教授 (60568153)
• Research Collaborator: HORI masaaki ; ANDICA christina
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: パーキンソン病 / 拡散MRI / 神経突起イメージング / 灰白質 / 白質 / コネクトーム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, we demonstrated the ability of neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) in the in vivo evaluation of the brain in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). NODDI was able to detect cerebral grey matter degeneration in PD patients, and NODDI parameters of grey matter were also well correlated with motor symptoms score of PD. We also reported that NODDI was able to show the degeneration of nigrostriatal pathways, which is the main cause of PD motor symptoms. In another study, we reported that disruption of cortico-basal ganglia-thalamocortical networks in PD could be detected more sensitively using diffusion-weighted MRI tractography and a multi-shell, multi-tissue (MSMT) constrained spherical deconvolution (CSD) method compared to conventional CSD method. From our research results, NODDI and MSMT-CSD methods are considered to be useful for evaluation of microstructural and neural networks changes of PD’s brain.

Free Research Field

神経放射線

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の結果により、拡散MRIによる神経突起イメージングがパーキンソン病患者の脳内に起きている病的な変化を患者が生存している状態で検出することが可能であることが示唆された。今後、神経突起イメージングがパーキンソン病患者の治療に対する反応性の評価や早期診断に有用であることが確立されれば、パーキンソン病の新たな治療薬の薬効評価や早期治療の開始に有用であることが期待される。