Impaired Blood Brain Barrier in Parkinson’s Disease: A DCE-MRI study

Motivation: Blood-brain barrier dysfunction (BBBd) plays a role in several neurological disorders like epilepsy and Alzheimer's Disease. However, In Parkinson's Disease (PD), evidence on BBBd is limited. Goal(s): To assess the feasibility of detecting BBBd by using Dynamic-contrast enhanced (DCE)-MRI in PD patients and study its association with cognitive manifestations. Approach: DCE-MRI scans of age-matched controls and PD patients were analyzed using the extended Tofts model and a slow accumulation metric. Results: Findings indicate higher permeability and lower vascularity in PD patients compared with controls in several brain regions. Impact: This study demonstrates that DCE-MRI can detect BBB dysfunction in PD, marked by higher permeability and lower vascularity, offering insights for diagnostics, biomarker discovery, and BBB-targeted treatment development in Parkinson's disease.