Dysfunction of the Locus Coeruleus–Norepinephrine System And
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J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry: first published as 10.1136/jnnp-2011-301817 on 13 October 2012. Downloaded from Neurodegeneration REVIEW Dysfunction of the locus coeruleus–norepinephrine system and related circuitry in Parkinson’s Editor's choice Scan to access more free content disease-related dementia Kelly Del Tredici, Heiko Braak Clinical Neuroanatomy, Center ABSTRACT nervous system: in an autopsy-based study, ILBD for Biomedical Research, Although resting tremor, cogwheel rigidity, hypokinesia/ cases were seen to have reduced striatal TH,36 and Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Ulm, bradykinesia and postural instability usually dominate the subsequent reports have described abnormalities in Germany clinical picture of sporadic Parkinson’s disease (PD), both TH immunoreactivity within the LC in cases with clinical and epidemiological data reveal that a wide PD.25 37 For example, Dugger and Dickson recently Correspondence to variety of additional symptoms impair patients’ quality found that compared with controls, coeruleus pro- Professor H Braak, Clinical of life considerably, parallel to the chronic progressive jection neurones of PD patients displayed reduced Neuroanatomy Section, Center for Biomedical Research, neurodegenerative movement disorder. Autopsy based or depleted cytoplasmic immunoreactivity for TH Department of Neurology, retrospective studies have shown that α-synuclein (figure 1D) and that the melanised nerve cells there University of Ulm, immunoreactive Lewy pathology (LP) develops in the also sequestered TH within abnormal α-synuclein Helmholtzstrasse 8/1, locus coeruleus (LC) of patients with neuropathologically aggregates,37 thereby making it unavailable for Ulm 89081, Germany; fi 38 fi – [email protected] con rmed sporadic PD, as well as in individuals with essential brain functions ( gure 1D F). incidental (prodromal or premotor) Lewy body disease The LC is the largest source of noradrenergic Received 17 June 2012 but not in age and gender matched controls. Using five innervation in the human brain with ascending Revised 29 August 2012 case studies, this review discusses the possible role of projections to all regions of the cerebral cortex Accepted 3 September 2012 LP (axonopathy, cellular dysfunction and nerve cell loss) (hippocampal formation, entorhinal cortex with Published Online First in the LC, catecholaminergic tract and related circuitry adjacent mediotemporal cortex, cingulate gyrus and 13 October 2012 – in the development of PD-related dementia. The neocortex).39 41 One of the major functions of the contribution of noradrenergic deficit to cognitive LC–norepinephrine system is to maximise dysfunction in PD has been underappreciated. task-oriented performance and behaviour, particu- Noradrenergic therapeutic interventions might not only larly under challenging (novel, stressful) circum- – alleviate depressive symptoms and anxiety but also stances.42 44 In addition, together with the delay the onset of cognitive decline. gigantocellular nucleus of the pontine reticular formation and the nuclei of the lower raphé group, the LC receives supramedullary limbic (central sub- INTRODUCTION nucleus of the the amygdala) and somatomotor In sporadic Parkinson’s disease (PD), Lewy path- input (pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus ology (LP) is not only present in the brain but (PPN)). Together with the projections from the http://jnnp.bmj.com/ – throughout the entire human nervous system.1 8 lower raphé group, projections from the LC have Morphologically, LP consists of insoluble intraneur- an inhibitory effect on responses to pain in decisive onal inclusions that contain the misfolded protein situations and a facilitatory effect on the activity – α-synuclein in aggregated form9 13: immunoreac- levels of spinal cord premotor and motoneurons tive pale neurites, thread-like or spindle-shaped that receive data from the neocortex, striatal and – Lewy neurites (LNs) in axons and dendrites14 15 cerebellar circuits45 50 (figure 2). Finally, the LC (figure 1A) as well as particulate (or punctate) participates in the sympathetic innervation and on October 1, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. – aggregates,16 pale bodies17 and Lewy bodies (LBs) modulation of the brain microcirculation.44 51 58 within neuronal cell somata10 18 19 (figure 1B, C). Thus, loss or chronic reduction of the rate limiting LP accompanied by nerve cell loss occurs in the enzyme TH for norepinephrine metabolism within locus coeruleus (LC) of the pontine tegmentum the LC and/or the ascending catecholaminergic – during PD,20 27 and there is firm evidence that tract (equivalent to the rat dorsal noradrenergic involvement of this nucleus and other regions in ascending bundle)59 may be anticipated to contrib- incidental Lewy body disease (ILBD) precedes the ute not only to some of the motor difficulties appearance of α-synuclein aggregates and neuronal experienced by PD patients in ‘unexpected’ situa- – loss in the nigral pars compacta.28 33 Less attention, tions (eg, no abrupt turns and hesitation at thresh- however, has been paid to the possible association olds) but also to problems with wake–arousal states of LP with noradrenergic axonal or cellular dysfunc- or redirecting attention, and to deficits in cognitive – tion there and its potential consequences. Until function and the cerebral microcirculation.38 58 60 62 recently, for instance, diminution of tyrosine hydro- During PD neuropathological stage 2, the level To cite: Del Tredici K, xylase (TH) immunoreactivity in PD and ILBD had setting nuclei (ie, LC, gigantocellular reticular Braak H. J Neurol Neurosurg only been detected in cardiac sympathetic nucleus and lower raphe nuclei) as a unit become Psychiatry 2013;84: nerves,34 35 but several groups have shown that this involved and, during the following stage, a bifurca- 774–783. phenomenon is not restricted to the peripheral tion, as it were, of the pathological process in the 774 Del Tredici K, et al. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2013;84:774–783. doi:10.1136/jnnp-2011-301817 J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry: first published as 10.1136/jnnp-2011-301817 on 13 October 2012. Downloaded from Neurodegeneration Figure 1 Lewy pathology in brains of demented patients with Parkinson’s disease. (A) Micrograph of a Lewy neurite showing immunoreactive material on the inner cellular membrane of a dendrite covered with short appendages. (B–F) Particulate α-synuclein aggregates in melanised projection neurones of the locus coeruleus (LC) (B) and substantia nigra (C, lower right). Lewy bodies are also seen (B, C), whereby in (D–F) (the LC), they clearly sequester tyrosine hydroxylase (TH, arrows) in their halos or centres. As such, the neurotransmitter presumably is not available for brain noradrenergic metabolism. (D) Compare the normal appearing melanised neurone at the left (dark blue, chromogen SK-4700) with that directly to the right: the cytoplasm of the latter nerve cell is pale, indicating reduced TH activity. Immunoreactions for α-synuclein (C) and for α-synuclein plus TH (A, B, D–F) in polyethylene glycol embedded 100 μm sections. http://jnnp.bmj.com/ brain occurs: LP develops in high order relay centres of the neuropathological substrates of cognitive decline and dementia in central autonomic network (central subnucleus of the amygdala, PD have been attributed not only to cortical (limbic and neocor- – hypothalamus and limbic circuit components)22 63 and, at the tical) LP71 83 86 89 but also to lesions compatible with Alzheimer’s – same time, it progresses into superordinate centres of the somato- disease (AD)61 72 82 83 87 90 95 and, somewhat more infrequently, – – motor system, including the PPN nucleus and striatal circuit64 66 comorbid argyrophilic grain disease (AGD).83 96 98 Potential (figure 2). The central autonomic network and PPN nucleus mechanisms that might contribute to a synergistic effect between regulate the brainstem level setting nuclei and send projections to tau and α-synuclein or between α-synuclein and amyloid-β remain on October 1, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. – all diffusely projecting non-thalamic nuclei.48 67 In other words, the object of ongoing research and discussion.99 106 In addition, by the time the PD associated pathological process makes intracerebral vascular disease, including amyloid angiopathies and headway into cortical sites during PD neuropathological stage 4, subcortical arteriosclerotic encephalopathy (small vessel disease the LP and axonal and/or cellular dysfunction and neuronal loss with white matter lesions) are recognised as contributory in key brainstem serotonergic, noradrenergic and cholinergic factors.85 107 108 Thus the entities cognitive dysfunction and – neurones are fairly advanced22 27 37 64 68 70 (figures 2 and 6). dementia in PD are often associated with an admixture of patholo- There is now a consensus that PD patients develop dysexecutive gies—that is, PD plus AD or PD plus AD plus AGD—often – symptoms and, provided they live long enough, dementia.71 77 accompanied by a vascular component.109 However, the differential diagnosis between PD associated demen- Finally, dopamine replacement therapy can have undesirable – tia (PDD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is still fraught effects not only on behaviour but also on cognitive function.110 112 – with difficulties.78 80 For instance, use of the 1 year rule originally proposed by McKeith et al81—that is, parkinsonism prior to cog- CASE HISTORIES AND POST MORTEM DIAGNOSES IN FIVE nitive impairment/fluctuating cognition—to