{"title":"Tau Accumulation and Dopamine Transporter Availability in Elderly Adults with Depression.","authors":"Shotaro Uchiyama, Ryosuke Arakawa, Takeshi Sakayori, Tsuyoshi Nogami, Tomoyuki Ohya, Makoto Higuchi, Amane Tateno","doi":"10.1272/jnms.JNMS.2026_93-308","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Depression in later life is associated with dopaminergic dysfunction and increased risk of neurodegenerative disorders, although the relationship between dopamine transporter (DAT) availability and tau accumulation remains unclear. Although previous studies have linked tau and DAT in neurodegenerative diseases, evidence related to depression is limited. Therefore, this study used positron emission tomography (PET) to investigate the association between tau pathology and DAT availability in elderly adults with depression.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Six patients diagnosed with depression according to ICD-10 criteria underwent PET scans with PET radioligands that enable accurate in vivo assessment, namely, florzolotau (18F) for tau and [<sup>18</sup>F]FE-PE2I for DAT. Clinical assessments using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) were performed for all patients. Tau standardized uptake value ratios (SUVR) in the striatal and cortical regions and DAT binding potentials (BP<sub>ND</sub>) in the striatum were calculated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Tau SUVR in all regions was negatively correlated with DAT BP<sub>ND</sub> in the striatum, suggesting that greater tau burden may be linked to dopaminergic dysfunction. Tau SUVR in the striatum was negatively correlated with MMSE, indicating that tau accumulation may be related to subtle cognitive decline. DAT BP<sub>ND</sub> in the striatum was not correlated with HAM-D.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These preliminary results suggest a link between tau pathology and dopaminergic dysfunction in elderly adults with depression.</p>","PeriodicalId":56076,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Nippon Medical School","volume":"93 3","pages":"236-243"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Nippon Medical School","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1272/jnms.JNMS.2026_93-308","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Depression in later life is associated with dopaminergic dysfunction and increased risk of neurodegenerative disorders, although the relationship between dopamine transporter (DAT) availability and tau accumulation remains unclear. Although previous studies have linked tau and DAT in neurodegenerative diseases, evidence related to depression is limited. Therefore, this study used positron emission tomography (PET) to investigate the association between tau pathology and DAT availability in elderly adults with depression.
Methods: Six patients diagnosed with depression according to ICD-10 criteria underwent PET scans with PET radioligands that enable accurate in vivo assessment, namely, florzolotau (18F) for tau and [18F]FE-PE2I for DAT. Clinical assessments using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) were performed for all patients. Tau standardized uptake value ratios (SUVR) in the striatal and cortical regions and DAT binding potentials (BPND) in the striatum were calculated.
Results: Tau SUVR in all regions was negatively correlated with DAT BPND in the striatum, suggesting that greater tau burden may be linked to dopaminergic dysfunction. Tau SUVR in the striatum was negatively correlated with MMSE, indicating that tau accumulation may be related to subtle cognitive decline. DAT BPND in the striatum was not correlated with HAM-D.
Conclusions: These preliminary results suggest a link between tau pathology and dopaminergic dysfunction in elderly adults with depression.
期刊介绍:
The international effort to understand, treat and control disease involve clinicians and researchers from many medical and biological science disciplines. The Journal of Nippon Medical School (JNMS) is the official journal of the Medical Association of Nippon Medical School and is dedicated to furthering international exchange of medical science experience and opinion. It provides an international forum for researchers in the fields of bascic and clinical medicine to introduce, discuss and exchange thier novel achievements in biomedical science and a platform for the worldwide dissemination and steering of biomedical knowledge for the benefit of human health and welfare. Properly reasoned discussions disciplined by appropriate references to existing bodies of knowledge or aimed at motivating the creation of such knowledge is the aim of the journal.