MONOAMINE VESICULAR UPTAKE SITES IN PATIENTS WITH PARKINSONS-DISEASE AND ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE, AS MEASURED BY TRITIATED DIHYDROTETRABENAZINE AUTORADIOGRAPHY
S. Lehericy et al., MONOAMINE VESICULAR UPTAKE SITES IN PATIENTS WITH PARKINSONS-DISEASE AND ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE, AS MEASURED BY TRITIATED DIHYDROTETRABENAZINE AUTORADIOGRAPHY, Brain research, 659(1-2), 1994, pp. 1-9
The monoaminergic innervation of the caudate nucleus, putamen and vent
ral striatum was investigated post mortem, in patients with Parkinson'
s and Alzheimer's disease as compared to control subjects, by autoradi
ographic detection of tritiated dihydrotetrabenazine (H-3-TBZOH), a sp
ecific high affinity ligand of the vesicular monoamine transporter. Th
e binding of H-3-TBZOH was specific and saturable (K-d 5.3 nM). In con
trol striatum, the pattern of distribution of H-3-TBZOH binding was he
terogeneous, with higher binding levels in the 'matrix' than in the 's
triosome' compartment. Changes in ligand binding levels were observed
in the pathological brains compared to controls. In Parkinson's diseas
e (PD), characterized by a severe damage of mesostriatal dopaminergic
neurons, the density of H-3-TBZOH binding was reduced. A severe decrea
se in H-3-TBZOH binding was observed in all parts of the striatum (cau
date nucleus: -80%, putamen: -86%, ventral striatum: -94%) in PD brain
s. The data corroborate the deficiency in striatal dopaminergic transm
ission and suggest that in PD brains dopaminergic terminals have disap
peared and/or no longer contain synaptic vesicles. In Alzheimer's dise
ase (AD),H-3-TBZOH binding was significantly reduced by 57% in the ven
tral striatum and not in the caudate nucleus and putamen. The specific
decrease of monoaminergic transporter levels in the ventral striatum
confirm that this nucleus is a target area in AD.