Langley Jason, Hwang Kristy S, Huddleston Daniel E, Hu Xiaoping P
Center for Advanced Neuroimaging, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA.
Section of Neurology, Department of Medicine, VA Long Beach Healthcare System, Long Beach, CA, USA.
NPJ Parkinsons Dis. 2025 Jun 21;11(1):181. doi: 10.1038/s41531-025-00976-3.
The loss of melanized neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) is a hallmark pathology in Parkinson's disease (PD). Melanized neurons in SNc can be visualized in vivo using magnetization transfer (MT) effects. Nigral volume was extracted in data acquired with a MT-prepared gradient echo sequence in 50 controls, 90 non-manifest carriers (46 LRRK2 and 44 GBA1 nonmanifest carriers), 217 prodromal hyposmic participants, 76 participants with rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD), 194 de novo PD patients and 26 moderate PD patients from the Parkinson's Progressive Markers Initiative. No difference in nigral volume was seen between controls and LRRK2 and GBA1 non-manifest carriers (F = 0.732; P = 0.483). A significant main effect in group was observed between controls, prodromal hyposmic participants, RBD participants, and overt PD patients (F = 9.882; P < 10). This study shows that nigral depigmentation can be robustly detected in prodromal and overt PD populations.
黑质致密部（SNc）中黑色素化神经元的丧失是帕金森病（PD）的标志性病理特征。SNc中的黑色素化神经元可通过磁化传递（MT）效应在体内可视化。在帕金森病进展标志物倡议项目中，从50名对照者、90名未出现症状的携带者（46名LRRK2和44名GBA1未出现症状的携带者）、217名前驱性嗅觉减退参与者、76名快速眼动睡眠行为障碍（RBD）参与者、194名新发PD患者和26名中度PD患者中，使用MT准备的梯度回波序列采集的数据中提取黑质体积。对照者与LRRK2和GBA1未出现症状的携带者之间的黑质体积未见差异（F = 0.732；P = 0.483）。在对照者、前驱性嗅觉减退参与者、RBD参与者和明显的PD患者之间观察到显著的组间主效应（F = 9.882；P < 10）。这项研究表明，在前驱性和明显的PD人群中可以可靠地检测到黑质色素脱失。
