Validation of Midbrain PET Measures for Nigrostriatal Neurons in Macaques

Objective Development of an effective therapy to slow the inexorable progression of Parkinson disease requires a reliable, objective measurement of disease severity. In the present study, we compare pre-synaptic PET tracer uptake in the substantia nigra (SN) to cell loss and motor impairment in MPTP non-human primates.