This study is important as it strengthens previous suggestions of the applicability of optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a biomarker tool to investigate the structural changes in the retina in the early stage of PD. The segmentation algorithm of OCT is consistent with dopaminergic cells loss in the inner plexiform layer and in the ganglion cell layer of the retina in PD. Most importantly this study detected dysfunction of dopaminergic neurons in the basal ganglia and correlated it with retinal pathology in PD. Retinal ganglion cells, whose axons form the retinal nerve fiber layer, are non-dopaminergic, yet this study reported a correlation between thinning of the GCL and dopaminergic cell loss in the substantia nigra. While both dopamine and serotonin deficiency are found in PD, this study did not address whether there is alteration in serotonin or other neurotransmitter uptake in the early stage of PD.
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SUNY Downstate Medical Center
SUNY Downstate Medical Center
This study is important as it strengthens previous suggestions of the applicability of optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a biomarker tool to investigate the structural changes in the retina in the early stage of PD. The segmentation algorithm of OCT is consistent with dopaminergic cells loss in the inner plexiform layer and in the ganglion cell layer of the retina in PD. Most importantly this study detected dysfunction of dopaminergic neurons in the basal ganglia and correlated it with retinal pathology in PD. Retinal ganglion cells, whose axons form the retinal nerve fiber layer, are non-dopaminergic, yet this study reported a correlation between thinning of the GCL and dopaminergic cell loss in the substantia nigra. While both dopamine and serotonin deficiency are found in PD, this study did not address whether there is alteration in serotonin or other neurotransmitter uptake in the early stage of PD.
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