A cutting-edge MRI technique to detect iron deposits in different brain regions can track declines in thinking, memory and movement in people with Parkinson’s disease, finds a new UCL-led study.
The findings suggest that measures of brain iron might eventually help predict which people with Parkinson’s will develop dementia.
“Iron in the brain is of growing interest to people researching neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and dementias. As you get older, iron accumulates in the brain, but it’s also linked to the build-up of harmful brain proteins, so we’re starting to find evidence that it could be useful in monitoring disease progression, and potentially even in diagnostics,” said the study’s lead author, Dr Rimona Weil (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology).
The study involved 97 people with Parkinson’s disease and 37 people without the condition, as a control group. They were tested for their thinking and memory as well as for their motor function.
Researchers found that iron accumulation in the hippocampus and thalamus brain regions was associated with poor memory and thinking scores. Iron in the putamen brain region was associated with poor movement scores, suggesting a more advanced stage of the disease.
In Parkinson’s disease, the hippocampus and thalamus are known to be associated with thinking and memory, and the putamen with movement scores, so the researchers say it’s very promising that iron deposition was specifically detected in those areas.
The findings, published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, suggest that iron deposition could be valuable to track if a treatment is working in a clinical trial, and might eventually be helpful for early diagnosis of Parkinson’s or other neurodegenerative diseases.
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive condition of brain degeneration resulting in tremors, stiffness and slowness of movement. Close to 50% of people with the condition end up developing dementia, but the timing and severity vary substantially.
Currently there are no reliable measures to track Parkinson’s progression in the brain, so clinicians rely on monitoring symptoms. Conventional brain imaging fails to track progression until quite a late stage, when large-scale brain volume loss can be detected.
First author, PhD student George Thomas (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology), said: “It’s really promising to see measures like this which can potentially track the varying progression of Parkinson’s disease, as it could help clinicians devise better treatment plans for people based on how their condition manifests.”
The researchers are now following up the same study participants to see how their disease is progressing, whether they develop dementia, and how such measures correlate with changes in iron levels over time.
