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Neurology 2002;59:1940-1944
© 2002 American Academy of Neurology

Elevation of blood ß-carboline alkaloids in essential tremor

E. D. Louis, MD MS, W. Zheng, PhD, E. C. Jurewicz, BA, D. Watner, MA, J. Chen, PhD, P. Factor–Litvak, PhD and M. Parides, PhD

From the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center (Dr. Louis, E.C. Jurewicz and D. Watner) and Departments of Neurology (Dr. Louis) and Pharmacology (Dr. Zheng), College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Departments of Environmental Health Sciences (Drs. Zheng and Chen), Epidemiology (Dr. Factor–Litvak), and Biostatistics (Dr. Parides), Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Elan D. Louis, Unit 198, Neurological Institute, 710 W. 168 St., New York, NY 10032; e-mail: EDL2{at}columbia.edu

Background: ß-Carboline alkaloids are normal body constituents but are also potent tremor-producing chemicals that are naturally present in the food chain.

Objective: To explore the hypothesis that high concentrations of ß-carboline alkaloids are associated with essential tremor (ET).

Methods: One hundred cases and 100 controls were frequency matched on age, sex, and ethnicity. Blood concentrations of harmane and harmine were quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography, blinded to clinical information.

Results: The mean log blood concentration of harmane was higher in cases than controls (0.72 ± 0.53 vs 0.51 ± 0.64 g-10/mL; p = 0.01). A nonparametric test on nontransformed data (median harmane = 5.21 g-10/mL in cases and 2.28 g-10/mL in controls) confirmed this difference (p = 0.005). The mean log blood concentration of harmine was 0.20 ± 0.48 g-10/mL in cases and 0.10 ± 0.65 g -10/mL in controls (p = 0.20). Log harmane concentrations were stratified based on the median value; 62% of cases vs 39% of controls had a high log harmane concentration (p = 0.001). Mean log harmane concentration was similar in the cases with (0.74 ± 0.58 g-10/mL) and without (0.71 ± 0.50 g-10/mL) an affected relative (p = 0.83).

Conclusions: Blood concentrations of harmane were measured in ET cases compared with controls. Concentrations were elevated in cases with and without a family history of ET.




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