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)

Neurochemical transmission is a fundamental element of brain organisation that has been relatively unexplored in the living human brain. Continuing advances in radionuclide imaging, particularly positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission tomography (SPET), mean that elements of neurochemical transmission can now be directly measured in vivo. With these techniques convincing abnormalities of monoaminergic neurotransmitter systems have been revealed in illnesses such as Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia. Furthermore, mechanisms of drug action and treatment responses can be monitored in vivo. This brief review describes some of our recent attempts to image the neurochemical brain in health and disease at the MRC Cyclotron Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, London.
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PMID:Imaging the neurochemical brain in health and disease. 1187 42

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) by definition benefit from treatment with the dopamine precursor levodopa. However, after 5 years of therapy 50% of patients experience motor response complications (MRC's): the benefit from each dose becomes shorter (wearing-off fluctuations), more unpredictable (on-off fluctuations) and associated with involuntary movements (dyskinesias). In addition these patients suffer from fluctuations in motor function that are inherent to the disease itself. Recent findings have lead to the suggestion that hyperfunction of NMDA receptors on striatal efferent neurons, as a consequence of chronic non-physiologic dopaminergic stimulation, contributes to the pathogenesis of MRC's. In PD patients blockade of striatal glutamate receptors with several NMDA-antagonists improve MRC's. With progression of PD the severity and complexity of MRC's magnify, obfuscating their pattern and their relation to the medication cycle. Only through detailed history taking and patient education will the physician be able to clarify the situation and establish a rational, targeted approach to the treatment of patients with advanced PD complicated by motor fluctuations and dyskinesias.
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PMID:Recognition and treatment of response fluctuations in Parkinson's disease: review article. 1237 28

Dr Roger A Barker is a University Reader in Clinical Neuroscience and Honorary Consultant in Neurology at the Addenbrooke's Hospital. He trained at Oxford and in London and has been in his current position for 10 years, having completed an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship prior to this. His main interests are in the neurodegenerative disorders of the nervous system, in particular Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. Dr Barker combines basic research investigating cell therapies to treat these conditions, with clinically based work on defining the natural history and heterogeneity of both diseases. He is a member of the CURE PD Research Advisory Panel and the MRC Stem Cell Liaison Committee. He is a member of the Regenerative Medicine editorial board and co-editor-in-chief of the journals ACNR and the Journal of Neurology.
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PMID:Cell therapies and Parkinson's disease: where next? Interviewed by Emily Culme-Seymour. 2108 86