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Salsolinol is one of the dopamine-derived tetrahydroisoquinolines, supposed to be a potent dopaminergic neurotoxin, similar to MPTP. Its systemic administration induced parkinsonism in monkeys. The aim of the study was to compare the concentration of salsolinol and the metabolite of L-dopa, 3-O-MD, and the metabolite of dopamine, HVA, in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with different degrees of parkinsonism, treated or nontreated with l-dopa. Lumbar CSF was obtained from 26 patients with Parkinson's disease (15 early and 11 advanced parkinsonism) and from six healthy controls. The presence of salsolinol, HVA and 3-O-MD was assayed with a sensitive HPLC method employing C18 (Hypersil BDS) column. The analysis of the results demonstrated that the concentration of salsolinol was related to the degree of parkinsonism but not affected by l-dopa treatment. In contrast, HVA and 3-O-MD were significantly elevated in patients receiving l-dopa but did not correlate with the severity of parkinsonism. The results suggest that salsolinol in the cerebrospinal fluid does not originate from exogenous l-dopa and its elevation in cerebrospinal fluid may be an indicator of the advancement of parkinsonism.

The determinations were carried out in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of 40 patients with recent cerebral infarction and 30 controls. Tryptophan concentration was determined by the fluorimetric method of Denckla and Dewey, and tyrosine concentration by the method of Waalkes and Udenfried. A statistically significant rise of free tryptophan concentration in the plasma and tryptophan concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid was found which seemed to depend on the stress reaction following brain infarction. No statistically significant changes were observed in the concentration of tyrosine in the cerebrospinal fluid and plasma in patients with brain infarction.