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Review
. 2016 Nov 9:6:36669.
doi: 10.1038/srep36669.

Meta-analysis of brain iron levels of Parkinson's disease patients determined by postmortem and MRI measurements

Jian-Yong Wang  1   2 , Qing-Qing Zhuang  1 , Lan-Bing Zhu  1 , Hui Zhu  1 , Ting Li  1 , Rui Li  2 , Song-Fang Chen  1 , Chen-Ping Huang  2 , Xiong Zhang  1 , Jian-Hong Zhu  2   3
Affiliations
Review

Meta-analysis of brain iron levels of Parkinson's disease patients determined by postmortem and MRI measurements

Jian-Yong Wang et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Brain iron levels in patients of Parkinson's disease (PD) are usually measured in postmortem samples or by MRI imaging including R2* and SWI. In this study we performed a meta-analysis to understand PD-associated iron changes in various brain regions, and to evaluate the accuracy of MRI detections comparing with postmortem results. Databases including Medline, Web of Science, CENTRAL and Embase were searched up to 19th November 2015. Ten brain regions were identified for analysis based on data extracted from thirty-three-articles. An increase in iron levels in substantia nigra of PD patients by postmortem, R2* or SWI measurements was observed. The postmortem and SWI measurements also suggested significant iron accumulation in putamen. Increased iron deposition was found in red nucleus as determined by both R2* and SWI, whereas no data were available in postmortem samples. Based on SWI, iron levels were increased significantly in the nucleus caudatus and globus pallidus. Of note, the analysis might be biased towards advanced disease and that the precise stage at which regions become involved could not be ascertained. Our analysis provides an overview of iron deposition in multiple brain regions of PD patients, and a comparison of outcomes from different methods detecting levels of iron.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Flow chart describing the selection process of articles retrieved from initial literature search.
CENTRAL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Statistical summaries and forest plots of studies comparing iron concentrations by postmortem analysis.
(D,E) Pooled using random-effects models. The others were pooled using fixed-effects models. *Analyzed after heterogeneity was removed.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Funnel plots that examine possible publication bias in the studies by postmortem analysis.
*Analyzed after heterogeneity was removed.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Statistical summaries and forest plots of studies comparing iron concentrations by MRI R2* relaxometry.
(C) Pooled using random-effects models. The others were pooled using fixed-effects models. *Analyzed after heterogeneity was removed.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Funnel plots that examine possible publication bias in the studies by R2*.
*Analyzed after heterogeneity was removed.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Statistical summaries and forest plots of studies comparing iron concentrations by SWI relaxometry.
(B,D,E) Pooled using random-effects models. The others were pooled using fixed-effects models. *Analyzed after heterogeneity was removed.
Figure 7
Figure 7. Funnel plots that examine possible publication bias in the studies by SWI.
*Analyzed after heterogeneity was removed.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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