Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder with the pathological accumulation of alpha synuclein in the brain and peripheral nerve tissue. Early stages of synucleinopathies, often present clinically with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep disorder (RBD). Clinical markers that indicate early progression from RBD to manifest synucleinopathies include abnormal dopamine transporter (DAT) imaging, motor and non-motor symptoms. Despite the high diagnostic strength of DAT imaging and motor abnormalities, they are not the earliest biomarkers. Non-motor signs of neurodegeneration such as colour vision and olfaction abnormalities are detectable by clinical examination as early as 20 years before disease onset. Detailed analysis of olfactory and colour vision dysfunction can provide valuable information regarding brain pathologies, further specifying clinical phenotypes, and giving clues to underlying pathophysiological mechanisms in Parkinson's disease and related disorders.

Department of Neurology and Centre of Clinical Neuroscience 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University and General University Hospital Prague Prague Czech Republic

References provided by Crossref.org

Colour discrimination deficit in REM sleep behavior disorder: an analysis of dopaminergic depletion, cognition, and brain morphology