Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) increases both in the brain and in the cerebrospinal fluid from parkinsonian patients.
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), a glial-cell-related factor, was measured for the first time in the brain (striatum) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from control and parkinsonian patients by a sensitive sandwich enzyme immunoassay. The concentrations of TNF-alpha in the brain and CSF were significantly higher in parkinsonian patients than those in controls. Since TNF-alpha is an important signal transducer of the immune system with cytotoxic and stimulator properties, these results suggest that an immune response may occur in the nigrostriatal dopaminergic regions in Parkinson's disease and that TNF-alpha may be related, at least in part, to the neuronal degeneration.
Department of Oral Biochemistry, Matsumoto Dental College, Shiojiri, Japan.
M
M
Mogi
M
M
Harada
P
P
Riederer
H
H
Narabayashi
K
K
Fujita
T
T
Nagatsu
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017072:Neostriatum / Q000378:metabolism; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000502:physiology; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000378:metabolism*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid
D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha