Institutional development · Research, innovation and assessment · Japan
Kyoto University MRI atlas locates brainstem atrophy in REM sleep behaviour disorder
A Kyoto University team built a brainstem atlas from ten post-mortem brains. Applying it to scans of 98 patients and 114 healthy older adults, they found the strongest shrinkage in one small nucleus.
Why it matters: Researchers studying REM sleep behaviour disorder and early Parkinson's disease detection gain a candidate brainstem site, LDTgV, identified on standard MRI.
According to Kyoto University, a group led by Professor Takashi Hanakawa and researcher Masakazu Hirose at its Graduate School of Medicine created an atlas from MRI scans of ten deceased donors' brains, allowing small brainstem nuclei to be located on ordinary MRI.
The university said that, using the atlas to analyse MRI scans of 98 people with REM sleep behaviour disorder and 114 healthy older adults, the team found the most severe atrophy in the ventral part of the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus (LDTgV).
The researchers report that LDTgV neurons are rich in the same protein found in mouse cells responsible for REM sleep, making the area a candidate REM-sleep region in humans, and they expect the finding to aid early detection of conditions such as Parkinson's disease.
The study was published online in the UK journal Brain Communications on 8 October 2026.
Editor’s view
Scott James, Research and Innovation Editor
For researchers working on REM sleep behaviour disorder, whose patients often go on to develop Parkinson's disease, the study names LDTgV as the brainstem site showing the strongest atrophy on standard MRI. The team said it plans further work linking donated brains to scans of living people, with the aim of supporting early detection of neurological disease.
