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

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is an important enzyme which is involved in the dismutation of the toxic radical, superoxide anion. The activity of CuZnSOD is increased in patients who suffer from Down's Syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, and in Parkinson's disease. In order to evaluate the contribution of this enzyme to the neuropathology of these neurodegenerative diseases, transgenic mice have been constructed which express the human CuZnSOD gene. As a first step towards exploring these issues, we have carried out an autoradiographic binding study of the distribution of the catecholaminergic uptake blocker mazindol in the brain of these transgenic mice and of their littermates. Desmethylimipramine (DMI)-insensitive [3H]mazindol binding sites which correspond to dopamine uptake sites were located in the striatum, the nucleus accumbens, the olfactory tubercle and in the substantia nigra. Within the striatum, there was a lateromedial gradient, with higher concentration of dopamine uptake sites being found laterally. These findings suggest that subregions of the basal ganglia may be more susceptible to the deleterious effects of dopaminotoxic drugs which are taken up into the dopaminergic neurons via these uptake sites. Saturation experiments revealed no differences in the characteristics of [3H]mazindol binding sites between the two groups of mice. Thus, increased activity of SOD is not associated with diffuse changes in the molecular structures of receptors in mice brain.
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PMID:Quantitative autoradiographic distribution of [3H]mazindol-labeled dopamine uptake sites in the brains of superoxide dismutase transgenic mice. 211 56

One hundred and fifty patients suffering from Parkinson's disease were analysed for the expression of the motor symptoms during optimum response to levodopa therapy (subscale III of the Unified-Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale). Patients were grouped according to age (< or = 64, 65-74, > or = 75 years). Disease duration and daily levodopa dosage were similar in the three groups. Pooled residual scores for posture and gait impairment (PGI), tremor (T), rigidity (R) and distal motor impairment (DMI; hand and foot movements) increased with age (Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA). The parkinsonian scores were significantly higher than the scores of 150 age-matched normal controls (Mann-Whitney U test). The differences between the patients' scores and the scores of the age-matched controls increased with age. In spite of a significant increase in the daily levodopa dosage with disease duration (linear regression), PGI aggravated age-dependently, and DMI age-independently with symptom duration (Spearman rank correlation). In contrast, T and R did not increase with disease duration.
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PMID:Effect of age and disease duration on parkinsonian motor scores under levodopa therapy. 852 2