Prepulse inhibition is associated with attention, processing speed, and 123I-FP-CIT SPECT in Parkinson's disease

TY - JOUR

T1 - Prepulse inhibition is associated with attention, processing speed, and 123I-FP-CIT SPECT in Parkinson's disease

AU - Zoetmulder, Marielle

AU - Biernat, Heidi B

AU - Nikolic, Miki

AU - Korbo, Lise

AU - Friberg, Lars

AU - Jennum, Poul J

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - BACKGROUND: Prepulse inhibition is a measure of sensorimotor gating, which reflects the ability to filter or 'gate' irrelevant information. Prepulse inhibition is dramatically altered in basal ganglia disorders associated with dysfunction in the midbrain dopaminergic system, and corresponding cognitive information processing deficits such as slowed processing speed. Parkinson's disease is characterised by the degeneration of the midbrain dopaminergic system and is associated with cognitive dysfunction, including slowed information processing. Although sensorimotor processes in Parkinson's disease have been extensively studied in relation to motor function, less is known about the potential role of sensorimotor processes in cognitive function.OBJECTIVE: We investigated the relationship between prepulse inhibition, cognition and nigrostriatal dysfunction, as measured with 123I-FP-CIT-SPECT scanning, in patients with Parkinson's disease.METHODS: 38 Parkinson patients were assessed with prepulse inhibition, neuropsychological tests, and neurological investigation. A subset of these patients underwent 123I-FP-CIT-SPECT scanning.RESULTS: Patients with a higher level of prepulse inhibition performed better on cognitive measures tapping attention and processing speed than patients with a lower level of prepulse inhibition. Furthermore, there were significant correlations between prepulse inhibition and 123I-FP-CIT uptake in the striatum.CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the level of prepulse inhibition is related to the efficiency of information processing in Parkinson's disease, and to the density of dopamine transporters in the striatum.

AB - BACKGROUND: Prepulse inhibition is a measure of sensorimotor gating, which reflects the ability to filter or 'gate' irrelevant information. Prepulse inhibition is dramatically altered in basal ganglia disorders associated with dysfunction in the midbrain dopaminergic system, and corresponding cognitive information processing deficits such as slowed processing speed. Parkinson's disease is characterised by the degeneration of the midbrain dopaminergic system and is associated with cognitive dysfunction, including slowed information processing. Although sensorimotor processes in Parkinson's disease have been extensively studied in relation to motor function, less is known about the potential role of sensorimotor processes in cognitive function.OBJECTIVE: We investigated the relationship between prepulse inhibition, cognition and nigrostriatal dysfunction, as measured with 123I-FP-CIT-SPECT scanning, in patients with Parkinson's disease.METHODS: 38 Parkinson patients were assessed with prepulse inhibition, neuropsychological tests, and neurological investigation. A subset of these patients underwent 123I-FP-CIT-SPECT scanning.RESULTS: Patients with a higher level of prepulse inhibition performed better on cognitive measures tapping attention and processing speed than patients with a lower level of prepulse inhibition. Furthermore, there were significant correlations between prepulse inhibition and 123I-FP-CIT uptake in the striatum.CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the level of prepulse inhibition is related to the efficiency of information processing in Parkinson's disease, and to the density of dopamine transporters in the striatum.

KW - Aged

KW - Attention

KW - Corpus Striatum

KW - Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Inhibition (Psychology)

KW - Male

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Neuropsychological Tests

KW - Parkinson Disease

KW - Reflex, Startle

KW - Sensory Gating

KW - Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

KW - Tropanes

U2 - 10.3233/jpd-130307

DO - 10.3233/jpd-130307

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 24366928

SN - 1877-7171

VL - 4

SP - 77

EP - 87

JO - Journal of Parkinson's Disease

JF - Journal of Parkinson's Disease

IS - 1

ER -