TY - JOUR T1 - Normal Striatal Vesicular Acetylcholine Transporter Expression in Tourette Syndrome JF - eneuro JO - eNeuro DO - 10.1523/ENEURO.0178-17.2017 SP - ENEURO.0178-17.2017 AU - Roger L. Albin AU - Christine Minderovic AU - Robert A. Koeppe Y1 - 2017/07/27 UR - http://www.eneuro.org/content/early/2017/07/27/ENEURO.0178-17.2017.abstract N2 - Considerable prior work suggests basal ganglia dysfunction in Tourette syndrome (TS). Analysis of a small number of post-mortem specimens suggests deficits of some striatal interneuron populations, including striatal cholinergic interneurons. To assess the integrity of striatal cholinergic interneurons in TS, we used [18F]FEOBV positron emission tomography to quantify striatal vesicular acetylcholine transporter expression, a measure of cholinergic terminal density, in human TS and control subjects. We found no evidence of striatal cholinergic deficits. Discrepant imaging and post-mortem analysis results may reflect agonal or post-mortem changes, medication effects, or significant disease heterogeneity.Significance Statement Prior post-mortem analyses suggest loss of striatal cholinergic interneurons in Tourette syndrome (TS). We evaluated this possibility with [18F]FEOBV PET, a ligand for the vesicular acetylcholine transporter and measure of cholinergic terminal integrity. We studied TS and matched control subjects. There were no differences between TS and control subjects in striatal [18F]FEOBV binding, indicating intact striatal cholinergic neurons in TS. ER -