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CSF dopamine--hydroxylase activity in Parkinson's disease

Section on Biochemical Pharmacology, Hypertension-Endocrine Branch, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (Drs. Hurst and Lovenberg), and the Experimental Therapeutics Branch, National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke (Drs. LeWitt, Burns, and Foster), NIH, Bethesda, MD.

Although the most prominent neurochemical change in parkinsonism is nigrostriatal dopamine deficiency, norepinephrine content is also diminished in the CNS. In this study, dopamine-±-hydroxylase (DBH) activity, a marker of central noradrenergic activity, was measured in the CSF of previously unmedicated parkinsonian patients and normal controls. The parkinsonian patients showed a reduction in CSF DBH levels to 41% of control values (p < 0.01). Possible explanations for the decrease included a decreased noradrenergic nerve pool or a diminished rate of synthesis of catecholamines.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Hurst, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Westwood Building, Room 5A–10, Bethesda, MD 20205.

Dr. Hurst is recipient of National Research Service Award 5F32HL06311–02.

Accepted for publication August 9, 1984.

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