TY - JOUR
T1 - Imaging of the dopamine system with focus on pharmacological MRI and neuromelanin imaging
AU - Reneman, Liesbeth
AU - van der Pluijm, Marieke
AU - Schrantee, Anouk
AU - van de Giessen, Elsmarieke
N1 - Funding Information: Author AS was funded by Veni grant 016196153 and author EG was funded by Veni grant 91618075 from the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw). Publisher Copyright: © 2021
PY - 2021/7/1
Y1 - 2021/7/1
N2 - The dopamine system in the brain is involved in a variety of neurologic and psychiatric disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and psychosis. Different aspects of the dopamine system can be visualized and measured with positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), including dopamine receptors, dopamine transporters, and dopamine release. New developments in MR imaging also provide proxy measures of the dopamine system in the brain, offering alternatives with the advantages MR imaging, i.e. no radiation, lower costs, usually less invasive and time consuming. This review will give an overview of these developments with a focus on the most developed techniques: pharmacological MRI (phMRI) and neuromelanin sensitive MRI (NM-MRI). PhMRI is a collective term for functional MRI techniques that administer a pharmacological challenge to assess its effects on brain hemodynamics. By doing so, it indirectly assesses brain neurotransmitter function such as dopamine function. NM-MRI is an upcoming MRI technique that enables in vivo visualization and semi-quantification of neuromelanin in the substantia nigra. Neuromelanin is located in the cell bodies of dopaminergic neurons of the nigrostriatal pathway and can be used as a proxy measure for long term dopamine function or degeneration of dopaminergic neurons. Both techniques are still primarily used in clinical research, but there is promise for clinical application, in particular for NM-MRI in dopaminergic neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's disease.
AB - The dopamine system in the brain is involved in a variety of neurologic and psychiatric disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and psychosis. Different aspects of the dopamine system can be visualized and measured with positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), including dopamine receptors, dopamine transporters, and dopamine release. New developments in MR imaging also provide proxy measures of the dopamine system in the brain, offering alternatives with the advantages MR imaging, i.e. no radiation, lower costs, usually less invasive and time consuming. This review will give an overview of these developments with a focus on the most developed techniques: pharmacological MRI (phMRI) and neuromelanin sensitive MRI (NM-MRI). PhMRI is a collective term for functional MRI techniques that administer a pharmacological challenge to assess its effects on brain hemodynamics. By doing so, it indirectly assesses brain neurotransmitter function such as dopamine function. NM-MRI is an upcoming MRI technique that enables in vivo visualization and semi-quantification of neuromelanin in the substantia nigra. Neuromelanin is located in the cell bodies of dopaminergic neurons of the nigrostriatal pathway and can be used as a proxy measure for long term dopamine function or degeneration of dopaminergic neurons. Both techniques are still primarily used in clinical research, but there is promise for clinical application, in particular for NM-MRI in dopaminergic neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's disease.
KW - Dopamine
KW - MRI
KW - Neuromelanin
KW - Pharmacological MRI
KW - Striatum
KW - Substantia nigra
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105777099&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrad.2021.109752
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrad.2021.109752
M3 - Article
C2 - 34004428
SN - 0720-048X
VL - 140
JO - European Journal of Radiology
JF - European Journal of Radiology
M1 - 109752
ER -