BRAIN MONOAMINES IN PROGRESSIVE SUPRANUCLEAR PALSY - COMPARISON WITH IDIOPATHIC PARKINSONS-DISEASE

Like idiopathic Parkinson's disease (iPD), Progressive Supranuclear Pa lsy (PSP) is characterized, inter alia, by a pronounced nonoverlapping loss of dopamine (DA) in caudate, putamen and substantia nigra. Unlik e iPD, in PSP the striatal DA loss is more severe in the caudate than in the putamen; this may contribute to the higher frequency of cogniti ve deficits in PSP. In contrast to iPD, in patients with PSP the serot onin (5-HT) levels in the basal ganglia are not significantly reduced, thus resulting in a relative predominance of the inhibitory serotoner gic influences on the motor behaviour in these patients. It is suggest ed that combination of levodopa with a 5-HT receptor blocker may subst antially improve the (poor) responsiveness of patients with PSP to DA substitution therapy.