title: Serum levels of vitamin A in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: To elucidate a possible role of vitamin A in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) we compared serum levels of retinol (vitamin A), measured by HPLC, and the vitamin A/retinol binding protein (RBP) ratio of 42 PD patients (22 males and 20 females, mean age 67.3 +/- 1.34 years) and their respective spouses as control group (20 males and 22 females, mean age 66.2 +/- 1.42). The serum levels of vitamin A did not differ significantly between the 2 groups (0.59 +/- 0.03 microgram/dl for PD patients and 0.57 +/- 0.03 microgram/dl for controls), nor did the vitamin A/RBP ratio (0.87 +/- 0.04 and 0.82 +/- 0.03, respectively). There was no influence of antiparkinsonian therapy on vitamin A or vitamin A/RBP ratio. Serum levels of vitamin A, and vitamin A/RBP ratio did not correlate with age, age at onset, scores of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale or the Hoehn and Yahr staging in the PD group. These results suggest that serum concentrations of vitamin A, do not play a role in the pathogenesis of PD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitario San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Jiménez
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Molina
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fernández-Calle
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vázquez
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pondal
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: del Ser
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gómez-Pastor
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Codoceo
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000097:blood*; D012177:Retinol-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D012177:Retinol-Binding Proteins; D014801:Vitamin A