Memphis, TN, USA.
Department of Orthopedics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
J Mov Disord. 2014 Oct;7(2):77-83. doi: 10.14802/jmd.14011. Epub 2014 Oct 30.
Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) often have deficits with mental rotation (MR). The neuropathological factors underlying these deficits, however, remain to be elucidated. One hypothesis suggests that dopamine depletion in nigro-striatal systems adversely influences MR. Another hypothesis suggests that deterioration of cortical (fronto-temporo-parietal basal ganglia) networks that mediate this function are responsible for this deficit. The goal of this study was to test the dopamine hypothesis by determining if dopamine abstinence negatively influences MR performance.
Thirty three non-demented right-handed individuals with PD were assess for their ability to perform a pencil and paper MR test while "on" and "off" dopaminergic medications. Dopamine abstinence followed the typical overnight withdrawal procedures.
No differences in mental rotation abilities were found between "on" and "off" dopaminergic medications.
These results suggest that other neuropathological factors, such as cortical-basal ganglia neurodegeneration, or dysfunction of other neurotransmitters systems, might account for these cognitive deficits and future research will have to test these alternative hypotheses.
帕金森病（PD）患者常存在心理旋转（MR）缺陷。然而，这些缺陷的神经病理学基础仍不清楚。一种假设认为，黑质纹状体系统中的多巴胺耗竭会对 MR 产生不利影响。另一种假设认为，负责介导这一功能的皮质（额颞顶叶基底节）网络的恶化是导致这一缺陷的原因。本研究的目的是通过确定多巴胺戒断是否会对 MR 表现产生负面影响来检验多巴胺假说。
对 33 名非痴呆的右利手 PD 患者进行了评估，以了解他们在“开”和“关”多巴胺能药物时进行纸笔式 MR 测试的能力。多巴胺戒断遵循典型的过夜戒断程序。
在“开”和“关”多巴胺能药物之间，心理旋转能力没有差异。
这些结果表明，其他神经病理学因素，如皮质基底节神经退行性变，或其他神经递质系统的功能障碍，可能解释这些认知缺陷，未来的研究将不得不检验这些替代假说。
