AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 246, Issue 6 897-R900, Copyright © 1984 by American Physiological Society
Local cerebral metabolic rates of glucose in movement and language disorders from positron tomography
E. J. Metter, W. H. Riege, W. R. Hanson, M. E. Phelps and D. E. Kuhl
Positron-computed tomography with [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose to measure
glucose metabolism has shown changes in the brain distant to a focal area
of infarction, demonstrating that what appears as a focal abnormality
represents a more widespread functional process. Several approaches are
presented to better understand quantitative metabolic data and focus on
caudate and basal ganglia function. Area-to-area correlations in
Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases showed decreases in the number of
cortical relationships compared with control subjects, suggesting that the
basal ganglia are involved with the ability of cortical regions to function
together. In aphasia, caudate metabolism correlated with several language
measures that suggested a role in some undefined basic process, seemingly
related to Broca's area function. The studies presented suggest that the
caudate may involve integrating the processing of language and cognition
with the execution of the resulting response. Motor and cognitive function
seem related to similar and overlapping brain systems. The disruption of
such systems may result in loss of both cognitive and motor aspects of a
function.
