title: Increase of total homocysteine concentration in cerebrospinal fluid in patients with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.
abstract: We determined the concentrations of free homocysteine (HC) and total HC in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or Parkinson's disease (PD) in order to elucidate whether HC is related to the pathogenesis of these neurodegenerative diseases. The concentration of free HC did not differ significantly from that of the normal controls, while the concentration of total HC was significantly higher in the AD and PD patients (+31% in AD,+31% in PD; p<0.05). These findings suggest that an increase of total HC concentration in the brain is commonly seen in patients with AD and PD, and this may be related to the pathogenesis of these two diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Iwate Medical University, 19-1 Uchimaru, Morioka, Iwate 020-8505, Japan. chiso@apost.plala.or.jp
authors.forename: Chiaki
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Isobe
authors.forename: Takahiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.forename: Chigumi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Terayama
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005260:Female; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*
chemical_list: D006710:Homocysteine