Monoamine neurons in the human brain stem: anatomy, magnetic resonance imaging findings, and clinical implications
- 19 November 2008
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in NeuroReport
- Vol. 19 (17), 1649-1654
- https://doi.org/10.1097/wnr.0b013e328315a637
Abstract
By using high-resolution, conventional, and neuromelanin-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging techniques, we reviewed the normal anatomy of the nuclei consisting of monoamine neurons such as dopaminergic, noradrenergic, and serotoninergic neurons and noted the changes in these nuclei that occur in some degenerative and psychiatric disorders. Multimodal MR images can directly or indirectly help in identifying the substantia nigra, locus ceruleus, and raphe nuclei that contain monoamine neurons. Neuromelanin-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging can detect signal alterations in the substantia nigra pars compacta and/or locus ceruleus that occur in Parkinson's disease and psychiatric disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. This technique seems to be promising for the noninvasive evaluation of the pathological or functional changes in the monoamine system that occur in degenerative and psychiatric disorders.Keywords
This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit:
- Neuromelanin magnetic resonance imaging of locus ceruleus and substantia nigra in Parkinson's diseaseNeuroReport, 2006
- Neuronal Loss Is Greater in the Locus Coeruleus Than Nucleus Basalis and Substantia Nigra in Alzheimer and Parkinson DiseasesArchives of Neurology, 2003
- High-field MRI of the Central Nervous System: Current Approaches to Clinical and Microscopic ImagingMagnetic Resonance in Medical Sciences, 2003
- The human locus coeruleus complex: an immunohistochemical and three dimensional reconstruction studyExperimental Brain Research, 1989
- The human locus coeruleus: computer reconstruction of cellular distributionJournal of Neuroscience, 1988
- Study of movement disorders and brain iron by MRAmerican Journal of Roentgenology, 1987
- MRI of brain ironAmerican Journal of Roentgenology, 1986
- Overview: toward a dysregulation hypothesis of depressionAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 1985
- Possible role of neuromelanin in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's diseaseMechanisms of Ageing and Development, 1983
- Increased Brain Dopamine and Dopamine Receptors in SchizophreniaArchives of General Psychiatry, 1982