title: Concentrations of thyrotropin-releasing hormone in the brain of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: Concentrations of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) were measured by a specific radioimmunoassay in the brain of 11 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and 6 controls (myocardial infarction, gastric cancer, multiple myeloma, cerebrovascular disease, amyloid neuropathy). TRH was found in all parts of the dissected brain tissues (pedunculus cerebri, corpus callosum, capsula interna, motor area) in patients with ALS and controls. The TRH concentrations in the brain of patients with ALS were significantly lower in the pedunculus cerebri, compared with controls, and tended to decrease in the motor area and corpus callosum, but not significantly. Changes in TRH concentrations did not always correlate with pathohistological changes. These findings suggest that TRH is widely distributed in the human brain and decreases in some part of the ALS brain.
mesh_terms: D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D013973:Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D013973:Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone