Long-term assessment of striatal dopamine transporters in parkinsonian patients with intrastriatal embryonic mesencephalic grafts

Purpose Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of striatal dopamine transporters (DAT) has been used to demonstrate presynaptic dopaminergic dysfunction and to monitor the progression of Parkinson’s disease. In parkinsonian patients who were implanted with embryonic mesencephalic tissue in the striatum, positron emission tomography (PET) has shown an increase in striatal [18F]dopa uptake as an indicator of graft survival and striatal reinnervation. The aim of this study was to investigate two patients who had undergone bilateral intrastriatal transplantation of human embryonic mesencephalic tissue using SPECT and the 123I-labelled DAT ligand N-(3-iodopropen-2-yl)-2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-chlorophenyl) tropane (IPT).