Summary: People who suffer from REM sleep behavior disorder are at increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease and dementia as they age, a new study reports. Researchers report RBD causes a lack of dopamine in the brain, and this can contribute to the development of neurodegenerative diseases.

Source: Aarhus University.

Researchers from Aarhus University have discovered that patients with the RBD sleep behaviour disorder lack dopamine and have a form of inflammation of the brain. This means that they are at risk of developing Parkinson’s disease or dementia when they grow older.

Do you sleep restlessly and hit out and kick in your sleep? This could be a sign of a disorder associated with diseases of the brain. Researchers from Aarhus University have studied the condition of the dopamine producing nerve cells in the brain and cells that participate in the brain’s immune system in people suffering from the sleep disorder Rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder, RBD.

The study shows that patients suffering from RBD have a risk of developing Parkinson’s disease or dementia in the future, because they already suffer from a lack of dopamine in the brain. Parkinson’s disease occurs precisely because the group of nerve cells in the brain that produce dopamine stop working.

The RBD sleep disorder is characterised by disturbances in the part of sleep where dreams take place. Healthy people are relaxed and lie still during dream sleep, while people suffering from RBD live out their dreams so that while sleeping they can hit out, kick and shout.

“These patients have an inflammation of the brain in the area where the dopamine-producing nerve cells are found,” says one of the researchers behind the study, Morten Gersel Stokholm from Aarhus University and the PET Centre at Aarhus University Hospital.

The findings have just been published in the neurological journal The Lancet Neurology.

This is completely new knowledge, as researchers have not previously demonstrated that there is a form of inflammation of the brain in patients who are at risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

“With this study, we have gained new knowledge about the disease processes in the brain in the early initial stages of the disease development. The idea is for this knowledge to be used to determine which patients with the sleep disorder will later develop Parkinson’s disease. At the same time, this is also knowledge that can help to develop drugs which can stop or slow the development of the diseases,” explains Morten Gersel Stokholm about the sleep disorder which most often affects persons aged 50-70, and more frequently men than women.

Parkinson’s disease

There are 7,300 Parkinson’s disease patients in Denmark. Symptoms are slow movements, often with shaking, together with muscular rigidity. Parkinson’s disease is a chronic condition that continues to worsen over time. The disease is somewhat more common in men than in women. Parkinson’s disease occurs because the brain lacks dopamine. It is primarily adults who are affected, and the first signs most often appear between the ages of 50-70.

Background for the results:

The study is a case-control study.

About this neuroscience research article

The people behind the project are Medical Doctor and PhD student Morten Gersel Stokholm and Associate Professor, MD, Nicola Pavese in collaboration with medical doctors from the Department of Neurology and the Sleep Clinic, Aarhus University Hospital and medical doctors from the University Hospital Clinic de Barcelona.

Funding: The project is financed by a grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark.

Source: Bert Gambini – Aarhus University

Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.

Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.

Original Research: Abstract for “Assessment of neuroinflammation in patients with idiopathic rapid-eye-movement sleep behaviour disorder: a case-control study” by Morten Gersel Stokholm, MD, Prof Alex Iranzo, MD, Prof Karen Østergaard, MD, Mónica Serradell, BSc, Marit Otto, MD, Kristina Bacher Svendsen, MD, Alicia Garrido, MD, Dolores Vilas, MD, Per Borghammer, MD, Prof Joan Santamaria, MD, Arne Møller, MD, Carles Gaig, MD, Prof David J Brooks, MD, Prof Eduardo Tolosa, MD, and Prof Nicola Pavese in Lancet Neurology. Published online October 2017 doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(17)30173-4

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]Aarhus University “Restless Sleep May Be an Early Sign of Parkinson’s.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 5 December 2017.

<https://neurosciencenews.com/restless-sleep-parkinsons-8110/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]Aarhus University (2017, December 5). Restless Sleep May Be an Early Sign of Parkinson’s. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved December 5, 2017 from https://neurosciencenews.com/restless-sleep-parkinsons-8110/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]Aarhus University “Restless Sleep May Be an Early Sign of Parkinson’s.” https://neurosciencenews.com/restless-sleep-parkinsons-8110/ (accessed December 5, 2017).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]

Abstract

Assessment of neuroinflammation in patients with idiopathic rapid-eye-movement sleep behaviour disorder: a case-control study

Background

Findings from longitudinal follow-up studies in patients with idiopathic rapid-eye-movement sleep behaviour disorder (IRBD) have shown that most patients will eventually develop the synucleinopathies Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, or multiple system atrophy. Neuroinflammation in the form of microglial activation is present in synucleinopathies and is a potential therapeutic target to halt or delay the neurodegenerative process. We aimed to investigate whether neuroinflammation is present in patients with IRBD and its possible relation to nigrostriatal dopamine function.

Methods

In this prospective, case-control, PET study, patients with IRBD and no clinical evidence of parkinsonism and cognitive impairment were recruited from tertiary sleep centres in Spain (Barcelona) and Denmark (Aarhus). We included patients with polysomnography-confirmed IRBD according to established criteria. Healthy controls were recruited through newspaper advertisements. Controls had no motor or cognitive complaints, a normal neurological examination, and a mean group age similar to the IRBD group. In patients with IRBD, we assessed microglial activation in the substantia nigra, putamen, and caudate with 11C-PK11195 PET, and dopaminergic axon terminal function in the putamen and caudate with 18F-DOPA PET. Controls underwent either 11C-PK11195 PET or 18F-DOPA PET. We compared 18F-DOPA uptake and 11C-PK11195 binding potential between groups with an unpaired, two-tailed Student’s t test.

Findings

Between March 23, 2015, and Oct 19, 2016, we recruited 20 consecutive patients with IRBD and 19 healthy controls. 11C-PK11195 binding was increased on the left side of the substantia nigra in patients with IRBD compared with controls (Student’s t test, mean difference 0·153 [95% CI 0·055 to 0·250], p=0·003), but not on the right side (0·121 [–0·007 to 0·250], p=0·064). 11C-PK11195 binding was not significantly increased in the putamen and caudate of patients with IRBD. 18F-DOPA uptake was reduced in IRBD in the left putamen (–0·0032 [–0·0044 to −0·0021], p<0·0001) and right putamen (–0·0032 [–0·0044 to −0·0020], p<0·0001), but not in the caudate.

Interpretation

In patients with IRBD, increased microglial activation was detected by PET in the substantia nigra along with reduced dopaminergic function in the putamen. Further studies, including more participants than were in this study and longitudinal follow-up, are needed to support our findings and evaluate whether the presence of activated microglia in patients with IRBD represents a marker of short-term conversion to a clinically defined synucleinopathy in the near future.

Funding

Danish Council for Independent Research, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spain).

“Assessment of neuroinflammation in patients with idiopathic rapid-eye-movement sleep behaviour disorder: a case-control study” by Morten Gersel Stokholm, MD, Prof Alex Iranzo, MD, Prof Karen Østergaard, MD, Mónica Serradell, BSc, Marit Otto, MD, Kristina Bacher Svendsen, MD, Alicia Garrido, MD, Dolores Vilas, MD, Per Borghammer, MD, Prof Joan Santamaria, MD, Arne Møller, MD, Carles Gaig, MD, Prof David J Brooks, MD, Prof Eduardo Tolosa, MD, and Prof Nicola Pavese in Lancet Neurology. Published online October 2017 doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(17)30173-4

Feel free to share this Neuroscience News.