Serotonin transporter in Parkinson's disease: A meta-analysis of positron emission tomography studies

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a powerful analytical tool for in vivo molecular imaging of the human brain. Over the past years, a number of PET studies imaging the serotonin transporter (SERT) have been used and provided evidence for the key role of serotonergic pathology in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Here, we review the role of SERT in the development of motor and nonmotor complications in patients with PD, and we performed a meta-analysis to identify the patterns of SERT pathology and the relevance to symptoms. Consistent SERT pathology in raphe nuclei, striatum, thalamus, and hypothalamus and associations with aging, PD progression, development of dyskinesias, and cognitive decline were observed. Ann Neurol 2017;81:171–180.