Zweig R M, Cardillo J E, Cohen M, Giere S, Hedreen J C
Department of Internal Medicine, VA Medical Center, Reno, NV.
Neurology. 1993 May;43(5):986-91. doi: 10.1212/wnl.43.5.986.
We compared numbers of neuronal profiles in the locus ceruleus (LC) from sections of brainstem in 13 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) without concurrent Alzheimer's disease (AD) with counts from age-matched controls and from patients with PD and concurrent AD. We also evaluated the relationships between presence of dementia or LC neuronal loss and additional pathologic measures related to dementia in PD. Among patients with PD without concurrent AD, the presence of dementia was associated with significantly lower LC neuronal counts (at all anatomic levels); greater neuronal loss within the ventral tegmental area, nucleus basalis of Meynert, and possibly the medial (but not the lateral) substantia nigra pars compacta; and more Lewy bodies in the anterior cingulate gyrus. Correlations between lower LC neuronal counts and these other pathologic measures were generally positive and often significant. We conclude that dementia in PD is associated with pathologic involvement of multiple extranigral neuronal populations.
我们比较了13例无并发阿尔茨海默病（AD）的帕金森病（PD）患者脑干切片中蓝斑（LC）的神经元形态数量，与年龄匹配的对照组以及患有PD并发AD的患者的计数结果。我们还评估了痴呆症的存在或LC神经元丢失与PD中与痴呆症相关的其他病理指标之间的关系。在无并发AD的PD患者中，痴呆症的存在与LC神经元计数显著降低（在所有解剖水平）、腹侧被盖区、Meynert基底核以及可能的内侧（而非外侧）黑质致密部内的神经元丢失增加、前扣带回中更多的路易小体有关。较低的LC神经元计数与这些其他病理指标之间的相关性通常为正，且往往具有显著性。我们得出结论，PD中的痴呆症与多个黑质外神经元群体的病理受累有关。
