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Effects of acute tryptophan depletion on cognition, memory and motor performance in Parkinson's disease.
- Source :
-
Journal of the neurological sciences [J Neurol Sci] 2006 Oct 25; Vol. 248 (1-2), pp. 259-65. Date of Electronic Publication: 2006 Jun 06. - Publication Year :
- 2006
-
Abstract
- Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neuropsychiatric disease, which is not only characterized by motor symptoms, but also by cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. It is hypothesized that some of the non-motor symptoms are related to the serotonergic deficiency that is present in PD.<br />Aim: To study the influence of serotonin on cognition, memory and motor performance in PD.<br />Methods: In a double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over design, the effect of acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) on the Visual Verbal Learning Task (VVLT), the Concept Shifting Task (CST), Simple Reaction Time Task (SRT), Finger Precuing Task (FPT) and the motor section of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS, Section 3) was investigated in 15 PD patients in early stages of their disease and 15 healthy volunteers, matched for age, sex and educational status.<br />Results: With the exception of the absence of a differential effect for PD patients with the long interval of the SRT, ATD produced similar effects in PD patients and control subjects on all tasks. These included impairment of delayed recall and delayed recognition on the VVLT, and improved SRT and FPT for 'short intervals'. The UPDRS in patients remained unaffected after ATD.<br />Conclusion: Serotonin does not appear to play a disease-specific role in cognition and reaction time in early stage PD patients, nor does acute reduction of cerebral serotonin levels affect motor symptoms in a clinically relevant way.
- Subjects :
- Aged
Amino Acids administration & dosage
Cross-Over Studies
Double-Blind Method
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Neuropsychological Tests statistics & numerical data
Parkinson Disease drug therapy
Reaction Time physiology
Severity of Illness Index
Tryptophan administration & dosage
Cognition physiology
Memory physiology
Parkinson Disease metabolism
Parkinson Disease physiopathology
Psychomotor Performance physiology
Tryptophan deficiency
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0022-510X
- Volume :
- 248
- Issue :
- 1-2
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Journal of the neurological sciences
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 16756999
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jns.2006.05.029