Brain monoamines in progressive supranuclear palsy--comparison with idiopathic Parkinson's disease.
Like idiopathic Parkinson's disease (iPD), Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) is characterized, inter alia, by a pronounced non-overlapping loss of dopamine (DA) in caudate, putamen and substantia nigra. Unlike iPD, in PSP the striatal DA loss is more severe in the caudate than in the putamen; this may contribute to the higher frequency of cognitive deficits in PSP. In contrast to iPD, in patients with PSP the serotonin (5-HT) levels in the basal ganglia are not significantly reduced, thus resulting in a relative predominance of the inhibitory serotonergic influences on the motor behaviour in these patients. It is suggested that combination of levodopa with a 5-HT receptor blocker may substantially improve the (poor) responsiveness of patients with PSP to DA substitution therapy.
Institute of Biochemical Pharmacology, University of Vienna, Austria.
O
O
Hornykiewicz
K
K
Shannak
D015306:Biogenic Monoamines / Q000378:metabolism*; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000378:metabolism; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000378:metabolism; D013494:Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive / Q000378:metabolism*
D015306:Biogenic Monoamines