A preliminary study on the differences in regional changes of neuromelanin and iron in substantia nigra among early parkinsonism

Motivation: Differential diagnosis of parkinsonism is difficult in early stage. Neuromelanin of SN plays an important role in the development of PD, PSP and MSA with iron.Goal(s): To find more neuroimage biomarkers to differentiate early parkinsonism by altered neuromelanin and iron in the level of SN subregions. Approach: We applied the 3D-ME-MTC-NM sequence to differentiate subregions based on the distribution of neuromelanin and iron, measured the volume, CR and/or susceptibility of neuromelanin accumulation, iron deposition and overlap regions. Results: The susceptibility of overlap region increased in early PSP, while no significant difference was seen between PD and MSA. Impact: The alteration of susceptibility in the overlap region may be helpful to identify characteristic changes in parkinsonism via different pathological proteins.