PERIPHERAL IRON-METABOLISM IN PATIENTS WITH PARKINSONS-DISEASE

To elucidate the possible role of peripheral metabolism of iron in the risk for developing Parkinson's disease (PD), we compared serum level s of iron, transferrin and ferritin, and 24-h iron excretion in urine after a single intramuscular dose of 1 mg/kg desferrioxamine, in 68 PD patients and their spouses as the control group. All these values did not differ significantly between the groups, they were not influenced by antiparkinsonian therapy, and they did not correlate with age, age at onset and duration of the disease, scores of the Unified PD Rating Scale or the Hoehn and Yahr staging in the PD group, with the excepti on of the 24-h urinary iron excretion with the duration of the disease (r = 0.32, p < 0.05). These results suggest that peripheral metabolis m of iron is apparently unrelated to the risk of developing PD.