TO: "COOLTIME"
>>> http://www.cooltime.com/ <[log in to unmask]>
07/21/97 07:17pm >>> you wrote:
>>>I'm new to the list. Fortunately, all my contact info is
included in my sig (always has been :-).
>>>Anyways, a brief about me: I'm 31, DX this past Dec.
but have known "something was wrong" for about 2 & 1/2 to
3 years. I am interested in what I believe was a recent topic
on this list....Parkinsons and smoking.<<<
TWO RECENT POSTINGS ON SMOKING:
From: Stephan Schwartz
<[log in to unmask]>
Date: 6/2/97 5:41pm
>>> Heather Elizabeth Baird
<[log in to unmask]> 05/30/97 07:38am >>>
Like, when I was using Sinemet, it was CR 200/50, I took it
with meals. Once I stopped taking Nicotine, however, I don't
seem to need the Sinemet anymore. Has anyone else out
there found that their condition improves when you stop
smoking? [log in to unmask]>>>>
Hello BB:
Your experience seems to run counter to recent studies . . .
"Nicotine may relieve the symptoms of Parkinson's,"
Psycopharmacology, 1994 vol 116:117-119;
"Cigarettes and Parkinson's," Neurology, 1995 vol 45:
1041-1051; "Nicotine as a Therapeutic Drug," NC MED J,
1995 VOL 56: 48-51.
These studies claim an inverse effect from smoking.
Nicotine has been shown to increase the activity of the nerve
cells that produce dopamine in the brain. Nicotine also acts
to replace a neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, used in memory
retrieval. Clinical trials on a limited number of PD patients
using nicotine gum and nicotine patches show these patients
to be more energetic, in a better mood, have clearer speech,
show less tremor and experience improved sleep.
A review of the various studies (about 45) led the
researchers to conclude that the incidence of PD in smokers
is lower than non-smokers. But, no direct correlation to
nicotine was credited with these findings.
Stephan 52/6
From: Bill&Germaine <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 6/2/97 6:18pm
Stephan,
The article I read in Discover Magazine (Jan, 1997) states
that nicotine is not the ingredient that stimulates the cells
producing dopamine. Here's the article again:
"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 Joanne Fowler and
her colleagues at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton,
New York, PET-scanned the brains of eight smokers, eight
nonsmokers, 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."
(Lori Oliwenstein)
