Idiopathic REM sleep phase disturbances may be the first symptom of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease or Lewy body dementia, reports the Society for Nuclear Medicine.
Researchers have shown a strong correlation between the occurrence of REM sleep phase disturbances and dysfunction of the dopaminergic system, which is responsible for many essential brain functions, including memory and motor control. Abnormalities in the dopamine neurotransmitter system, in turn, are one of the first signs of the development of Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.
A single proton emission tomography (SPECT) study involved 21 people who had not been diagnosed with parkinson’s or any other cognitive decline. 10 of them complained of REM sleep phase disturbances. Patients were followed for 8 years.
Already at the beginning of the study, it was noticed that people with sleep disorders had degenerative changes in nerve cells in the substantia nigra, involved in the production of dopamine. Over the next few years, most of these patients developed neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease; and dementia with Lewy bodies.
In the future, imaging of the dopamine neurotransmitter may predict the development of parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases in patients who are at risk, such as those suffering from idiopathic REM sleep phase disorders, says Hongyoon Choi of Seoul National University, South Korea.
The results of this study were presented at this year’s conference of the Society for Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging in St. Louis (USA). (PAP)