[The concentration of homovanillic acid and leucine-enkephalin in the lumbar CSF of patients with Parkinson's disease before and after madopar treatment].
[The concentration of homovanillic acid and leucine-enkephalin in the lumbar CSF of patients with Parkinson's disease before and after madopar treatment].
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Original abstract
For comparison, the concentrations of homovanillic acid (HVA) and leucine-enkephalin (LEK) in the lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) before and after treatment with madopar were determined 19 patients, suffering from common surgical diseases, who had CSF withdrawn by lumbar punctures for spinal anesthesia, served as controls. HVA was estimated by fluorescence scanning after polyamide thin-layer chromatography. LEK was measured with radio-immuno-assay. The mean concentration of HVA from 22 patients before madopar treatment (0.085 +/- 0.011 mg/L, means +/- S means) was significantly lower than the control mean value (0.264 +/- 0.022 mg/L) (P less than 0.001); while that of LEK from 25 patients before treatment (197.01 +/- 12.96mg/L, means +/- S means) was significantly higher than the control mean value (88.79 +/- 8.66mg/L) (P less than 0.001). Treatment with madopar increased the concentration of HVA (0.222 +/- 0.032mg/L) (P less than 0.001) but exhibited no significant effect on the levels of LEK. It is confirmed that there is a reduction of HVA in CSF in Parkinsonian patients. The results suggest that an increase of enkephalin in the brain seems to play some role in the pathogenesis of PD, but why madopar could not significantly alter the LEK level in CSF awaits further studies.