This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (69)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

The Possible Relationship of Laterality to Dementia and Neurochemical Findings

Lorne K. Direnfeld, MD, FRCP(C); Martin L. Albert, MD; Ladislav Volicer, MD, PhD; Philip J. Langlais, MA; Judith Marquis, PhD; Edith Kaplan, PhD

Arch Neurol. 1984;41(9):935-941.

Abstract
• We examined the relationship of disease laterality to neuropsychological and neurochemical features in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). We tested patients with PD, patients with Alzheimer's type of senile dementia, and a control group neuropsychologically, and we determined their CSF levels of homovanillic acid, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol, 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid, serotonin, and acetylcholinesterase. The patients with PD were divided into two groups depending on the side of the body with greater disease involvement. Both parkinsonian groups, those more affected on the left (group L) and those more affected on the right (group R), were otherwise similar in all other clinical and historical features. Group L patients showed greater neuropsychological impairments than group R patients. Group L also had significantly higher CSF levels of homovanillic acid and acetylcholinesterase than group R. These findings of neuropsychological and neurochemical differences between groups L and R suggest functional or anatomic asymmetries of dopaminergic systems in the CNS.

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Neurology (Drs Direnfeld, Albert, and Kaplan) and Pharmacology (Dr Marquis), Boston University School of Medicine; Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center (Drs Direnfeld, Albert, and Kaplan); the Departments of Pharmacology and Medicine, E. N. Rogers Memorial Veterans' Hospital, Geriatric Research and Educational Clinical Center, Bedford, Mass (Dr Volicer); and the Brain Tissue Resource Center, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Mass (Mr Langlais). Dr Direnfeld is now with the Maui Clinic, Kahului, Hawaii.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Dec 20, 1983.

Reprint requests to Department of Neurology, Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center, 150 S Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02130 (Dr Albert).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Lateralisation of striatal function: evidence from 18F-dopa PET in Parkinson's disease
Cheesman et al.
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2005;76:1204-1210.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Parkinson disease: Handedness predicts asymmetry
Uitti et al.
Neurology 2005;64:1925-1930.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Heterogeneity of Parkinson's disease in the early clinical stages using a data driven approach
Lewis et al.
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2005;76:343-348.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Cognitive Dysfunction in Parkinson's Disease: The Role of Frontostriatal Circuitry
Owen
Neuroscientist 2004;10:525-537.
ABSTRACT  

Neuropsychological Performance in Lateralized Parkinsonism
Spicer et al.
Arch Neurol 1988;45:429-432.
ABSTRACT  

Intellectual Impairment in Parkinson's Disease: Clinical, Pathologic, and Biochemical Correlates
Cummings
J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 1988;1:24-36.
ABSTRACT  

Laterality and Neurochemical Findings in Parkinson's Disease
Rainero et al.
Arch Neurol 1986;43:207-207.
ABSTRACT  

Laterality and Symptom Association in Parkinson's Disease
Zetusky and Jankovic
Arch Neurol 1985;42:1132-1132.
ABSTRACT  

Serotonin and 5-Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid in CSF: Difference in Parkinson's Disease and Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type
Volicer et al.
Arch Neurol 1985;42:127-129.
ABSTRACT