Correlations between the specific brain nuclei and GI organs
Pairwise comparisons within the digestive and cerebral regions of the HC
and PD group were separately summarized (Figure 4-5 ). For the
inter-nigrostriatal region correlations, strong positive correlation for
R1, DVR, SUVREP and
SUVRLP were found among nearly all the four
nigrostriatal nuclei within the HC group (all P <0.05).
Conversely, these correlations were notably diminished in the PD cohort.
For the “brain-GI” correlations
within the HC group, the significant negative correlations were revealed
between the stomach and putamen for both the early perfusion parameters
R1 (r =-0.833, P <0.05) and
SUVREP (r =-0.821, P <0.05).
Meanwhile, the significant positive correlation relationships of the
tracer density parameters DVR and SUVRLP were identified
between pancreas and all the four brain nuclei including caudate
(r =0.918, P <0.05 for DVR; r =0.899,P <0.05 for SUVRLP), putamen
(r =0.977, P <0.001 for DVR; r =0.993,P <0.001 for SUVRLP), pallidum
(r =0.909, P <0.05 for DVR; r =0.828,P <0.05 for SUVRLP) and substantial
nigra (r =0.894, P <0.05 for DVR; r =0.964,P <0.01 for SUVRLP). In contrast, among
PD patients, significant correlations between most of the brain nuclei
and digestive organ targets were absent, except for a positive
correlation was observed between the pancreas and pallidum (r=0.912, P <0.05 for DVR; r =0.904,P <0.05 for SUVRLP), and substantia
nigra (r =0.912, P <0.05 for
SUVRLP). Additionally, the VT of
pancreas and putamen estimated using the VOI-based 1T2K were also
significantly correlated in the HC group rather than PD group
(Supplemental Figure 1C ).