Analyse van cortico-putaminale en thalamo-corticale verbindingen bij de ziekte van Parkinson met behulp van diffusion tensor imaging.

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease, which is caused by loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. In Parkinson’s disease, particular symptoms may be related to disturbed function of the premotor cortex, caused by a disruption of the cortico-basal ganglia thalamocortical circuitry. Differences in connections between the premotor cortex (ventral premotor cortex (PMv), dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) and supplementary motor area (SMA)) and putamen, and between premotor cortex and thalamus were quantified using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) in patients with Parkinson’s disease en healthy controls. To that end we analyzed 15 patients with Parkinson’s disease and 16 healthy controls with DTI. Differences were quantified using probabilistic tractography on a voxel basis. No significant differences were found between patients with Parkinson’s disease and healthy controls in the amount of connections between premotor cortex and putamen en premotor cortex and thalamus. There were more connections between the left SMA and left putamen, compared to left PMd and PMv putamen connections. Both the left and right SMA have more connections with the thalamus, compared to the PMd and PMv. The right PMd had more connections with the right thalamus, compared to the right PMv. These findings may support the view that the SMA has a more prominent role in the cortico-basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuit. Limitations of the DTI protocol used for data acquisition are a reason to be careful in drawing definite conclusions about possible differences.