• Brain · Apr 2005

    The role of opioids in restless legs syndrome: an [11C]diprenorphine PET study.

    • Sarah von Spiczak, Alan L Whone, Alexander Hammers, Marie-Claude Asselin, Federico Turkheimer, Tobias Tings, Svenja Happe, Walter Paulus, Claudia Trenkwalder, and David J Brooks.
    • Division of Neuroscience and MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK. sarah.v.s@gmx.de
    • Brain. 2005 Apr 1;128(Pt 4):906-17.

    AbstractOpioids have been shown to provide symptomatic relief from dysaesthesias and motor symptoms in restless legs syndrome (RLS). However, the mechanisms by which endogenous opioids contribute to the pathophysiology of RLS remain unknown. We have studied opioid receptor availability in 15 patients with primary RLS and 12 age-matched healthy volunteers using PET and [11C]diprenorphine, a non-selective opioid receptor radioligand. Ligand binding was quantified by generating parametric images of volume of distribution (V(d)) using a plasma-derived input function. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) was used to localize mean group differences between patients and controls and to correlate ligand binding with clinical scores of disease severity. There were no mean group differences in opioid receptor binding between patients and controls. However, we found regional negative correlations between ligand binding and RLS severity (international restless legs scale, IRLS) in areas serving the medial pain system (medial thalamus, amygdala, caudate nucleus, anterior cingulate gyrus, insular cortex and orbitofrontal cortex). Pain scores (affective component of the McGill Pain Questionnaire) correlated inversely with opioid receptor binding in orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate gyrus. Our findings suggest that, the more severe the RLS, the greater the release of endogenous opioids within the medial pain system. We therefore discuss a possible role for opioids in the pathophysiology of RLS with respect to sensory and motor symptoms.

      Pubmed     Free full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

What will the 'Medical Journal of You' look like?

Start your free 21 day trial now.

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.