The latest issue (Jan. '97) of Discover Magazine has the latest I've read on
the issue of smoking and Parkinson's disease. The quote is short, so I'll
include it all here:
This is Your Brain on Smoke (title). Over the past few years, several
studies have found that people who smoke have about half the risk that
nonsmokers have of developing Parkinson's disease. Last February researchers
reported a possible reason for this strange link: an enzyme called monoamine
oxidase B (MAO B). MAO B is one of the enzymes involved in breaking down the
neurotransmitter dopamine, which the brain uses when it creates and controls
movement. Because people with Parkinson's have unusually low levels of
dopamine, they suffer from uncontrollable tremors, rigid muscles, and
difficulty walking and talking.
Chemist Joanna Fowler and her colleagues at Brookhaven National
Laboratory in Upton, New York, PET-scanned the brains of eight smokers, eight
non-smokers, and four former smokers. They found that MAO B levels in the
smokers' brains were 40 percent lower than in the other two groups. If you
have less MAO B, the researchers speculate, then you"ll have more available
dopamine and be less prone to Parkinson's--indeed, some of the best drugs
used against the disease work by inhibiting MAO B. What's the ingredient in
cigarette smoke that does the job? The researchers only know that it's not
nicotine.
Thought everyone might be interested in this. Margie Swindler
Lawrence, Ks
