Study on microstructure of corpus striatum in patients with idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder using magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

Objective To investigate the structure of corpus striatum and the integrity of white matter fiber in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (iRBD).  Methods Twelve patients with iRBD, 12 patients with PD and 10 healthy subjects that were well matched in gender, age and education were enrolled in this study. Head MRI examination was performed to all subjects to observe the changes of corpus striatum structure (the gray matter volume) and the integrity of white matter fiber [fractional anisotropy (FA)] by combining voxel?based morphometry (VBM) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).  Results Compared with healthy subjects, the gray matter volume of left caudate nucleus was significantly decreased (P < 0.005), and FA values of left caudate nucleus (P < 0.005), right caudate nucleus (P < 0.001) and right putamen (P < 0.05) were all significantly reduced in iRBD patients; FA value of right putamen was significantly decreased in PD patients (P < 0.05). Compared with PD patients, the gray matter volume of left caudate nucleus of iRBD patients was significantly reduced (P < 0.001), FA values of left caudate nucleus (P < 0.01) and right caudate nucleus (P < 0.005) of iRBD patients were significantly reduced.  Conclusions There is atrophy of gray matter volume and extensive white matter fiber impairment in corpus striatum of patients with iRBD, and the white matter fiber impairment was similar to PD, which provides an anatomical evidence for iRBD being presymptom of PD.

DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2017.05.008