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Studies of the Substantia Nigra in Parkinson Disease Patients

Paavo Riekkinen, MD; Urpo K. Rinne, MD; Tarja-Terttu Pelliniemi, MD; Vesa Sonninen, MD

Arch Neurol. 1975;32(1):25-27.

Abstract
Interaction between dopamine and phospholipids was studied in the substantia nigra of ten patients with Parkinson disease and nine control subjects. There were no differences in the total content of phospholipids. However, in parkinsonian patients without previous levodopa treatment, the amount of sphingomyelin was increased and the amount of phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine decreased. Levodopa treatment corrected these values to the level of controls, whereas the amount of phosphatidylserine was decreased.

It is concluded that changes in phospholipids are reflections of the deficiency of dopamine and loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra of patients with Parkinson disease.

Author Affiliations
From the departments of neurology (Drs. Riekkinen, Rinne, and Sonninen) and medical chemistry (Dr. Tarja-Terttu Pelliniemi), University of Turku, Turku, Finland.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication May 1, 1974.

Reprint requests to Department of Neurology, University of Turku, 20520 Turku 52, Finland (Prof Rinne).

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