STRIATAL EXPRESSION OF SUBSTANCE-P AND METHIONIN-ENKEPHALIN GENES IN PATIENTS WITH PARKINSONS-DISEASE

Citation
R. Levy et al., STRIATAL EXPRESSION OF SUBSTANCE-P AND METHIONIN-ENKEPHALIN GENES IN PATIENTS WITH PARKINSONS-DISEASE, Neuroscience letters, 199(3), 1995, pp. 220-224
Citations number
24
Categorie Soggetti
Neurosciences
Journal title
ISSN journal
03043940
Volume
199
Issue
3
Year of publication
1995
Pages
220 - 224
Database
ISI
SICI code
0304-3940(1995)199:3<220:SEOSAM>2.0.ZU;2-D
Abstract
The striatal expression of substance P (SP) and methionin-enkephalin ( met-enk) genes was studied post mortem by in situ hybridization in pat ients with Parkinson's disease and a group of control subjects. No sig nificant difference in striatal expression of these two neuropeptide m essenger RNAs (mRNAs) was found in the patients compared with control subjects. This contrasts with animal models of parkinsonism, where exp ression of SP mRNA is decreased and met-enk mRNA increased. Possible e xplanations include: (1) compensatory mechanisms, which may develop du ring the long term evolution of Parkinson's disease; (2) normalized ex pression of the two genes resulting from chronic L-DOPA therapy.