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For those that only have e-mail access here is the story. Thursday February 13 5:43 PM EST Some Parkinson's Inherited NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Some people with Parkinson's disease may have inherited it from their mothers, a new study suggests. This is the first clinical evidence that the disease could be genetically transmitted to children through mutations in specific DNA within their mother's cells, say researchers. University of Virginia researchers in Charlottesville say their findings suggest that the mutations occur in the DNA of cellular mitochondria -- the cell's factories for converting sugar and fatty acids into energy. Children inherit mitochondrial DNA from their mother. The Virginia team, led by Dr. G. Frederick Wooten, chairman of the neurology department at the University, looked closely at the family histories of 265 patients with Parkinson's disease, checking with doctors and medical records. Whenever possible, the researchers also examined affected relatives to confirm a diagnosis of the disease. Of all the patients studied, 32 had a parent with Parkinson's, and 13 had one or more affected siblings. But the key finding was "a preponderance of maternal inheritance in families where the index patient had both an affected parent and affected sibling," the researchers say. Specifically, five patients had both an affected parent and at least one affected brother or sister. And in each of the five cases, the affected parent was the mother. Moreover, Wooten and his colleagues found additional evidence that the disease may have been passed from mother to child via mutated mitochondria. "We found an earlier age of (Parkinson's) onset in patients with an affected mother compared to the age at onset in their mother," they state, adding that "no such difference was found" between patients with an affected father. This finding is a phenomenon neurologists call "anticipation," and is consistent with inheritance patterns in other diseases that researchers believe are transmitted by mutations in mitochondrial DNA, including Huntington's disease. "These data support an increasing body of evidence suggesting both a genetic basis for and genetic anticipation in at least some patients with Parkinson's disease," the researchers state. "The next step is to prove directly that the disease is due to a mutation in mitochondrial DNA," says Wooten. SOURCE: Annals of Neurology (1997;41:265-268) _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ Central Supply & Services _/ _/ (Internet Training and Research) _/ _/ PO Box 57247, Jackson Stn., _/ _/ Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8P 4X1 _/ _/ John S. Walker _/ _/ Email [log in to unmask] _/ _/ _/ _/ "To Teach is to touch a life forever" _/ _/ On the Web one touch can reach so far! _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/