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Newly Identified Molecule In Brain May Indicate Risk Of Parkinson's Disease
October 3, 2001
CHICAGO (Reuters Health) - A possible new marker for Parkinson's disease
may give physicians the ability to diagnose and treat this degenerative
condition at much earlier stages, according to research presented here
Monday at the 126th annual meeting of the American Neurological Association.
The newly discovered molecule,
1-acetyl-6,7-dihydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline (ADTIQ), was detected
in the brains of four Parkinson's disease patients on postmortem analysis.
The possibly neurotoxic chemical was less concentrated in the brains of
three people who had died without Parkinson's disease.
Dr. Yulin Deng of the University of Saskatchewan told meeting attendees
that the difference in ADTIQ levels between controls and Parkinson's
disease patients was statistically significant. For instance, the mean
level in putamen of Parkinson's disease patients was 11.32 nmol/gm compared
with 4.94 nmol/gm in controls.
One of the co-investigators, Dr. Ali M. Rajput, said ADTIQ may be a toxic
byproduct of an error in the metabolism of dopamine. "Levels of both
dopamine and ADTIQ were lower when disease was more advanced, which would
indicate that in the early phases, there will be higher levels of ADTIQ
because there's a higher level of dopamine...it's correlating with the
dopamine levels."
If these findings are confirmed, said Dr. Rajput, ADTIQ might be used as a
diagnostic marker. "Furthermore, if ADTIQ is found to trigger Parkinson's
disease by damaging nerves, it might be possible to develop therapies that
block this abnormal metabolic pathway."
A next crucial step for the research team is to determine whether levels of
ADTIQ can be detected in the blood, urine or cerebrospinal fluid. "If we
can detect this compound in fluids...which are easily accessible, and
correlate it with the severity of Parkinson's disease, it would become the
first biological marker for Parkinson's disease," said Dr. Deng.
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Ray Strand
Prairie Sky Design
-----------------( on the Edge of the Prairie Abyss )---------------
when the sky is clear
the ground is visible
49/dx PD 47/40? onset PD
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