Daniel Garca-Lorenzo1,
2, Clarisse Longo Dos Santos3, 4, Cecile Gallea1,
2, Claire Ewenczyk, 25, Habib Benali6, Cyril
Poupon3, 4, Smaranda Leu-Semenescu, 27,
Isabelle Arnulf, 27, Marie Vidailhet, 25, Stphane
Lehricy1, 2
1CENIR,
Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle pinire - ICM, Paris, France; 2Universit
Pierre Marie Curie, UMR-S975; Inserm U975; CNRS UMR 7225, Paris, France; 3NeuroSpin,
CEA, Gif-sur-Yvette, France; 4IFR49, Gif-sur-Yvette, France; 5Fdration
de Neurologie, Piti-Salptrire, Paris, France; 6Universit
Pierre Marie Curie, Inserm U678, Paris, France; 7Service des
pathologies du sommeil, Piti-Salptrire, Paris, France
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorders (RBD) are early symptoms in Parkinsons disease (PD). The locus coeruleus/subcoeruleus complex plays a major role in controlling atonia during REM sleep. Using neuromelanin-sensitive images, we studied the relation of the locus coeruleus/subcoeruleus complex and RBD in a cohort of 41 PD patients. The intensity of locus coeruleus/subcoeruleus complex was automatically measured. We found significant difference in intensity between RBD and non-RBD patients. We also found a correlation between the intensity and the percentage of atonia during REM sleep. Our technique may be used as a biomarker for the evolution of PD.