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Abstract #3012

in vivo 7T Imaging of Nigrosome Loss in Parkinsons Disease

Anna I. Blazejewska1, Stefan T. Schwarz2, Alain Pitiot3, Mary C. Stephenson1, James Lowe4, Nin Bajaj5, Richard W. Bowtell1, Dorothee P. Auer2, Penelope A. Gowland1

1SPMMRC, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, Notts, United Kingdom; 2Division of Radiological and Imaging Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, Notts, United Kingdom; 3School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, Notts, United Kingdom; 4Division of Pathology, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, Notts, United Kingdom; 5Division of Neurology, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, Notts, United Kingdom

Parkinsons disease (PD) is caused by loss of dopaminergic cells particularly from the nigrosomes of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). In this study we correlated in vivo, post mortem MRI and histochemical data proving the ability of high resolution 7T MRI imaging to directly visualise nigrosome 1. Further assessment of T2*w scans of PD patients versus healthy controls by the neurologists suggested that the absence of nigrosome 1 in the SNpc on MR scans may provide a neuroimaging diagnostic test for the Parkinson's disease.

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Keywords

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