The locus ceruleus and dementia in Parkinson's disease
Citation Manager Formats
Make Comment
See Comments

Abstract
We compared numbers of neuronal profiles in the locus ceruleus (LC) from sections of brainstem in 13 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) without concurrent Alzheimer's disease (AD) with counts from age-matched controls and from patients with PD and concurrent AD. We also evaluated the relationships between presence of dementia or LC neuronal loss and additional pathologic measures related to dementia in PD. Among patients with PD without concurrent AD, the presence of dementia was associated with significantly lower LC neuronal counts (at all anatomic levels); greater neuronal loss within the ventral tegmental area, nucleus basalis of Meynert, and possibly the medial (but not the lateral) substantia nigra pars compacta; and more Lewy bodies in the anterior cingulate gyrus. Correlations between lower LC neuronal counts and these other pathologic measures were generally positive and often significant. We conclude that dementia in PD is associated with pathologic involvement of multiple extranigral neuronal populations.
- © 1993 by the American Academy of Neurology
Letters: Rapid online correspondence
REQUIREMENTS
You must ensure that your Disclosures have been updated within the previous six months. Please go to our Submission Site to add or update your Disclosure information.
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.
You May Also be Interested in
Hastening the Diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Dr. Brian Callaghan and Dr. Kellen Quigg
► Watch
Related Articles
- No related articles found.