Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0030567 (Parkinson's disease)
 63,064 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In Parkinson's disease as well as presenile dementia there is a dopamine deficit in the basal ganglia. Extrapyramidal symptoms are common in presenile dementia, and dementia is a common trait in Parkinsonism. It is reasonable to suggest a partial common etiology and pathophysiology, and the logical consequence is an investigation of levodopa substitution is presenile dementia. Until now very few reports of such studies have been published. The investigations have been uncontrolled or carried out on small or inhomogeneous materials. This investigation is triple-blind, clinically controlled, and the material is very homogenous. After 6 months' levodopa treatment no significant effect is shown either on a broad spectrum of psychiatric items or in cognitive functioning. This negative result is discussed. The probability of a specific Parkinson dementia is mentioned and the significance of the modifying effect of an imbalance in other transmitter systems is emphasized.
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PMID:Levodopa treatment of presenile dementia. 84 82

The oral administration of fenfluramine hydrochloride, which acts centrally to augment serotonin-mediated synaptic function, did not alter extrapyramidal signs in either untreated or levodopa-treated parkinsolian patients. These results support the contention that biochemical indices of serotonergic dysfunction in Parkinson disease do not reflect a critical role for serotonin-containing neural systems in the pathophysiology of parkinsonism and that serotonin-active drugs afford no significant therapeutic benefit to patients with this disorder.
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PMID:Fenfluramine hydrochloride treatment of parkinsonism. 84 63

This investigation was conducted to clarify the epidemiology of ALS disease in Sardinia. During the years 1965-1974, the average annual incidence was found to be 0.64/100,000 inhabitants. On prevalence day, October 24th, 1974, the prevalence rate was 1.56/100,000 inhabitants. A significant male predominance was found, the average annual incidence rates for men and women being 0.88 and 0.40, respectively. The peak in both sexes was reached between 60 and 69 years. ALS distribution in the study area was uniform but its occurrence was significantly higher among agricultural workers (5.28/100,000). ALS started on average at 56.58 years and its duration was 2.5 years, being significantly longer in patients under 40-years-old. The distribution of the various clinical forms was: 66 per cent conventional forms, 20 percent bulbar and 14 per cent pseudo-polyneuritic. In the bulbar type, a female predominance was found. About 96 percent of cases were sporadic and 4 per cent familial. Familial cases presented no difference from sporadic cases. Trauma was present in 10.5 percent of the cases and gastrointestinal disfunction in 13 per cent. This probably reflects some relationship between trauma and ALS, and between malnutrition and ALS. No combination of ALS, dementia and parkinsonism was observed. Dementia was associated with ALS in four cases and Parkinson's disease in one case, separately. The combination of other disease states with ALS in the present study may be simple coincidence.
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PMID:Studies on epidemiological, clinical, and etiological aspects of ALS disease in Sardinia, Southern Italy. 84 75

The author analyzes parkinsonism and hyperkinesia in psychiatric patients with tardive dyskinesia before and during treatment with alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine (AMPT, a dopamine antagonist), biperiden (an acetylcholine antagonist), and baclofen (a GABA agonist); and in patients with paralysis agitans and L-dopa-induced hyperkinesia. AMPT and baclofen had similar influences on oral dyskinesia, resulting in reduced frequency, unchanged or slightly reduced amplitude, and increased duration of each movement. The author concludes that: 1) reduced dopaminergic activity may be the primary pathogenetic background for tardive dyskinesia; 2) dopaminergic hypersensitivity and/or cholinergic hypofunction is necessary before hyperkinesia breaks through; and 3) the neurotoxic effects of neuroleptics may be associated with age-dependent changes in nigrostriatal regions representing oral innervation.
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PMID:The relationship between parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia. 86 56

The muscle, nerve terminal and end plates of 3 patients suffering from idiopathic Parkinson's disease have been studied electrophysiologically, histologically, histochemically and electron microscopically. No characteristic neuromuscular features of parkinsonism were discernible. Four additional patients suffering from idiopathic parkinsonism complicated by diabetes, myasthenia gravis and spinal atrophy were also studied.
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PMID:Peripheral neuromuscular changes in Parkinson's disease. 87 15

Rats were trained and tested on a two-lever discrimination task based upon the presence or absence of 0.8 mg/kg d-amphetamine. After 80% criterion performance was attained, dopaminergic drugs reported to be effective in the treatment of Parkinson's disease were tested to investigate their ability to produce d-amphetamine-like responding. Amantidine (50 mg/kg), apomorphine (2.5 mg/kg), n-propylnoraporphine (0.1, 0.2 and 1.0 mg/kg), and piribedil (25 mg/kg) were all observed to produce d-amphetamine-appropriate responding. These results indicate that discriminative behavior controlled by d-amphetamine is mediated by central dopaminergic systems and the use of this technique in the evaluation of potential anti-Parkinsonism drugs is discussed.
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PMID:Amphetamine discrimination as a test for anti-parkinsonism drugs. 88 58

This article examines the effect of a series of physical and sociopsychological variables on the response shown by Parkinson patients to levodopa therapy. Of the ten major variables examined, six measure relatively enduring personality adaptations: suggestibility, passivity, self-expectations, stigma, attitudes toward illness, and the perception of the expectations of others. Four are illness-related characteristics: diagnosis (primary or secondary parkinsonism); the existence of health problems in addition to Parkinson's disease; whether or not the patient was hospitalized at the beginning of treatment; and symptom improvement as rated by the patient's physician. Age, sex, severity and duration of disease, and use of anti-Parkinson drugs in addition to levodopa were controlled in all of the analyses. The effect of levodopa therapy was assessed in four major areas: activity, social participation, depression, and enjoyment of life. Findings can be summarized as follows: Five of the six personality variables do, in fact, modify the amount of social or psychological change shown by Parkinson patients treated with levodopa. The only one which fails to have such an effect is passivity; this may reflect a measurement problem. However, only two of the four illness-related characteristics which were examined made a difference in treatment outcome: diagnosis and symptomatic improvement, as rated by the patient's physician.
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PMID:Sociopsychological factors influencing response to levodopa therapy for Parkinson's disease. 93 17

Mental symptoms increased in frequency among 100 patients with parkinsonism treated with levodopa. Dementia was found in about one-third of patients throughout the 6-year treatment period. Thirteen patients became demented during the study, and dementia worsened severely in seven others. Agitated confusion became increasingly frequent and was observed in 60 percent of patients taking levodopa for 6 years. Withdrawal from levodopa decreased agitation, but not dementia. Ten patients received L-tryptophan along with levodopa, but no change in mentation was observed. In view of previous studies of mentation in Parkinson's disease and reports of widespread neuronal changes in the brain of autopsied patients with parkinsonism, our results suggest that the high incidence of dementia in patients with Parkinson's disease who take levodopa reflects prolongation of the course of the illness rather than a direct effect of the medication.
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PMID:Mental symptoms in Parkinson's disease during chronic treatment with levodopa. 94 87

Improvement in signs of parkinsonism and symptoms of depression was observed in a patient with Parkinson's disease who underwent a course of ECT for depression. Empirically this patient was observed by a blind rater to show a pattern of improvement in parkinsonian signs similar to that observed in parkinsonian patients treated with L-dopa. The time course of improvement of this patient's depression was also seen to parallel improvement in his Parkinson's disease. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that ECT increases catecholamine synthesis and more specifically would be evidence that ECT improves depression by increasing norepinephrine synthesis.
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PMID:Improvement of depression and parkinsonism during ECT: a case study. 101 51

Eighty-one Parkinsonic patients were treated with L-dopa alone and/or combined with Ro4-4602, during 27 to 60 months. The results are reported. 7.2% of the patients, who are still being treated, showed good, very good or excellent results. There was a relation between the duration of the illness and the degree of improvement, the most prolonged Parkinsonisms showed the least improvement. The 4:1 proportion of L-dopa and Ro4-4602 was more effective than the 3:2. Adding small amounts of L-dopa to the combinations improvement and secondary effects increased. No advantages were found using high combined dosages. The main secondary effects at the end of treatment were abnormal movements (45% of cases) and distonic attitudes (53%). Patients who stoped the medication showed less sustained improvement and a high degree of Parkinsonism. This reveals that Parkinson's disease continues to envolve in spite of the medication. The "long-term syndrome" includes the late decrease of effectiveness of the drugs and/or the increase of secondary effects.
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PMID:[5 years of experience in the treatment of parkinsonism with L-dopa and its combination with Ro4-4602]. 101 27


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