Abstract
In previous studies of human T-lymphotropic virus type 1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), areas of slow blood flow in the spinal cord were related to pathological changes. While the pathological changes in the brain are milder than those in the spinal cord, they are also more significant in sites with slow blood flow. In this study, we investigated brain glucose metabolism in slow blood flow areas using fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET). Clinical features and brain 18F-FDG-PET parameters were analyzed in six patients with HAM/TSP. For comparison of PET data, eight healthy volunteers were enrolled as normal controls (NLs). Glucose metabolism in the watershed areas of the middle and posterior cerebral arteries, as compared with that in the occipital lobes as a control, was significantly lower in HAM/TSP patients than in NLs. This result confirmed the relationship between slow blood flow areas and hypometabolism in HAM/TSP, and is consistent with previous findings that pathological changes are accentuated in sites with slow blood flow.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Poiesz BJ, Ruscetti FW, Gazdar AF, Bunn PA, Gallo RC (1980) Detection and isolation of type C retrovirus particles from fresh and cultured lymphocytes of a patient with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 77:7415–7419
de Thé G, Bomford R (1993) An HTLV-I vaccine: why, how, for whom? AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 9:381–386
Oh U, Jacobson S (2008) Treatment of HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis: toward rational targeted therapy. Neurol Clin 26:781–797. doi:10.1016/j.ncl.2008.03.008
Shoeibi A, Etemadi M, Moghaddam Ahmadi A, Amini M, Boostani R (2013) “HTLV-I infection” twenty-year Research in Neurology Department of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Iran J Basic Med Sci 16:202–207
Souza A, Tanajura D, Toledo-Cornell C, Santos S, Carvalho EM (2012) Immunopathogenesis and neurological manifestations associated to HTLV-1 infection. Rev Soc Bras Med Trop 45:545–552. doi:10.1590/S0037-86822012000500002
Rafatpanah H, Farid Hosseini R, Pourseyed SH (2013) The impact of immune response on HTLV-I in HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Iran J Basic Med Sci 16:235–241
Izumo S (2010) Neuropathology of HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM/TSP). Neuropathology 30:480–485. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1789.2010.01135.x
Iwasaki Y (1990) Pathology of chronic myelopathy associated with HTLV-I infection (HAM/TSP). J Neurol Sci 96:103–123
Yoshioka A, Hirose G, Ueda Y, Nishimura Y, Sakai K (1993) Neuropathological studies of the spinal cord in early stage HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM). J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 56:1004–1007
Aye MM, Matsuoka E, Moritoyo T, Umehara F, Suehara M, Hokezu Y, Yamanaka H, Isashiki Y, Osame M, Izumo S (2000) Histopathological analysis of four autopsy cases of HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis: inflammatory changes occur simultaneously in the entire central nervous system. Acta Neuropathol 100:245–252
Sokoloff L (1981) Relationships among local functional activity, energy metabolism, and blood flow in the central nervous system. Fed Proc 40:2311–2316
WHO (1989) Virus diseases: human T lymphotropic virus type I, HTLV-I. Wkly Epidemiol Rec 64:382–383
Izumo S, Goto I, Itoyama Y et al (1996) Interferon-alpha is effective in HTLV-I-associated myelopathy: a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Neurology 46:1016–1021
Kurtzke JF (1983) Rating neurologic impairment in multiple sclerosis: an expanded disability status scale (EDSS). Neurology 33:1444–1452
Zhang Z, Nonaka H, Hatori T (1997) The microvasculature of the spinal cord in the human adult. Neuropathology 17:32–42. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1789.1997.tb00008.x
Mohan S, Mohan N, Valente AJ, Spraque EA (1999) Regulation of low shear flow-induced HAEC VCAM-1 expression and monocyte adhesion. Am J Physiol 276:C1100–C1107
Puccioni-Sohler M, Gasparetto E, Cabral-Castro MJ, Slatter C, Vidal CM, Cortes RD, Rosen BR, Mainero C (2012) HAM/TSP: association between white matter lesions on magnetic resonance imaging, clinical and cerebrospinal fluid findings. Arq Neuropsiquiatr 70:246–251. doi:10.1590/S0004-282X2012000400004
Morgan DJ, Caskey MF, Abbehusen C et al (2007) Brain magnetic resonance imaging white matter lesions are frequent in HTLV-I carriers and do not discriminate from HAM/TSP. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 23:1499–1504. doi:10.1089/aid.2007.0077
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Taniguchi, A., Mochizuki, H., Nagamachi, S. et al. Hypometabolism of watershed areas of the brain in HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis. Neurol Sci 36, 2117–2120 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-015-2323-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-015-2323-x