Cerebellar norepinephrine in patients with Parkinson's disease and control subjects
S. J. Kish, K. S. Shannak, A. H. Rajput, J. J. Gilbert and O. Hornykiewicz
Norepinephrine was measured in postmortem cerebellar cortex of 22
non-neurological control subjects and nine patients with Parkinson's
disease, using the high-performance liquid chromatography method with
amperometric detection. In all control subjects, substantial amounts of
norepinephrine was found in cerebellar cortex. There was a moderate
negative correlation between age of control subjects and cerebellar
norepinephrine concentration. In the patients with Parkinson's disease, the
cerebellar cortical norepinephrine levels were significantly below normal.
This is in accord with previously reported reduced norepinephrine levels in
locus ceruleus and other regions of the parkinsonian brain. Although the
main symptoms of Parkinson's disease are primarily caused by disturbed
basal ganglia (dopamine) function, cerebellar dysfunction related to
norepinephrine may contribute to some abnormalities of motor performance in
this disorder.