Background: Central synucleinopathies, including Parkinson's disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and multiple system atrophy (MSA), involve alpha-synuclein accumulation and dopaminergic cell loss in the substantia nigra (SN) and locus coeruleus (LC). Pure autonomic failure (PAF), a peripheral synucleinopathy, often precedes central synucleinopathies.
Objectives: To assess early brain involvement in PAF using neuromelanin-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging (NM-MRI) and fluorodopa-positron emission tomography (FDOPA-PET), and to determine whether PAF patients with a high likelihood ratio (LR) for conversion to a central synucleinopathy exhibit reduced NM-MRI contrast in the LC and SN compared with controls and low-LR patients.
Background: The cholinesterase inhibitor pyridostigmine is used to treat orthostatic hypotension by facilitating cholinergic neurotransmission in autonomic ganglia, thereby harnessing residual sympathetic tone to increase blood pressure (BP) preferentially in the upright posture. We hypothesized that less severe autonomic impairment was associated with greater pressor responses to pyridostigmine.
Methods: To identify predictors of pressor response, linear regression analyses between the effect of pyridostigmine on upright BP and markers of autonomic impairment were retrospectively conducted on 38 patients who had a medication trial with pyridostigmine (60 mg single dose).
Purpose: The semiautomated carbon monoxide (CO) rebreathing method has been introduced as a noninvasive and radiation-free blood volume estimation method. We tested whether the semiautomated CO rebreathing method can detect the blood volume deficit in postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). In addition, we explored the relationship between blood volume estimated from CO rebreathing and body impedance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: We previously reported that single doses of the norepinephrine transporter inhibitor, atomoxetine, increased standing blood pressure (BP) and ameliorated symptoms in patients with neurogenic orthostatic hypotension (nOH). We aimed to evaluate the effect of atomoxetine over four weeks in patients with nOH.
Methods: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover clinical trial between July 2016 and May 2021 was carried out with an initial open-label, single-dose phase (10 or 18 mg atomoxetine), followed by a 1-week wash-out, and a subsequent double-blind 4-week treatment sequence (period 1: atomoxetine followed by placebo) or vice versa (period 2).