Clinical profile of Parkinson's disease in the Gumei community of Minhang district, Shanghai

OBJECTIVE: We examined the demographic and clinical profiles of Parkinson's disease in Shanghai, China, to assist in disease management and provide comparative data on Parkinson's disease prevalence, phenotype, and progression among different regions and ethnic groups. METHODS: A door-to-door survey and follow-up clinical examinations identified 180 community-dwelling Han-Chinese Parkinson's disease patients (104 males, 76 females). RESULTS: The average age at onset was 65.16±9.60 years. The most common initial symptom was tremor (112 patients, 62.22%), followed by rigidity (38, 21.11%), bradykinesia (28, 15.56%) and tremor plus rigidity (2, 1.11%). Tremor as the initial symptom usually began in a single limb (83.04% of patients). The average duration from onset to mild Parkinson's disease (Hoehn-Yahr phase 1-2) was 52.74±45.64 months. Progression from mild to moderate/severe Parkinson's disease (phase≥3) was significantly slower (87.07±58.72 months; p<0.001), except for patients presenting initially with bradykinesia (53.83±24.49 months). Most patients (149/180, 82.78%) took levodopa with or without other drugs. The Hamilton Anxiety Scale revealed symptoms of clinical anxiety in 35 patients, and the Hamilton Depression Scale revealed depressive symptoms in 88 patients. The depressed or anxious subgroup (123 patients) demonstrated a significantly younger age at onset (55.54±7.68 years) compared with the overall mean (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Unilateral limb tremor was the most common initial symptom, and motor function deteriorated slowly over ≅4−9 years. Earlier-onset patients experience greater psychiatric dysfunction. .

Protection against neurotoxicity by an autophagic mechanism

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of 3-n-butylphthalide (NBP) on a 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+)-induced cellular model of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and to illustrate the potential mechanism of autophagy in this process. For this purpose, rat PC12 pheochromocytoma cells were treated with MPP+ (1 mM) for 24 h following pretreatment with NBP (0.1 mM). Cell metabolic viability was determined by the MTT assay and cell ultrastructure was examined by transmission electron microscopy. The intracellular distribution and expression of α-synuclein and microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (LC3) were detected by immunocytochemistry and Western blotting. Our results demonstrated that: 1) NBP prevented MPP+-induced cytotoxicity in PC12 cells by promoting metabolic viability. 2) NBP induced the accumulation of autophagosomes in MPP+-treated PC12 cells. 3) Further study of the molecular mechanism demonstrated that NBP enhanced the colocalization of α-synuclein and LC3 and up-regulated the protein level of LC3-II. These results demonstrate that NBP protects PC12 cells against MPP+-induced neurotoxicity by activating autophagy-mediated α-synuclein degradation, implying that it may be a potential effective therapeutic agent for the treatment of PD.