ABSTRACT
Proteome analysis is a powerful methodology to investigate protein expression in tissues involved in diseases not linked to particular genetic defects. To date, this technique has a limited number of applications in the field of neurodegenerative disorders. We decided therefore to investigate by this approach autoptic mesencephalic tissues of patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease as well as control specimens from healthy subjects.
Subject(s)
Parkinson Disease/metabolism , Proteome/analysis , Substantia Nigra/chemistry , Blotting, Western/methods , Databases, Protein , Dihydropteridine Reductase/metabolism , Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional/methods , Humans , Nerve Tissue Proteins/metabolism , Parkinson Disease/diagnosis , Substantia Nigra/metabolism , Superoxide Dismutase/metabolism , Synucleins , Ubiquitin/metabolism , Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases/metabolismABSTRACT
In the advanced phase of Parkinson's disease (PD), gait disturbances represent one of the main causes of disability. Several studies demonstrated that high-frequency electrical stimulation (HFS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) significantly improves the motor symptoms of PD. This study was finalised to quantitatively analyze the effect of STN HFS on gait of PD patients, through a three-dimensional gait analysis system. Ten PD patients were studied, with and without STN HFS. The results demonstrated that STN HFS significantly improves all the main gait parameters in PD patients.
Subject(s)
Electric Stimulation Therapy , Gait , Parkinson Disease/therapy , Subthalamic Nucleus , Biomechanical Phenomena , Case-Control Studies , Female , Humans , Kinetics , Male , Middle Aged , Parkinson Disease/physiopathology , Subthalamic Nucleus/physiopathologyABSTRACT
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) has been shown to be an effective therapy for the treatment of advanced Parkinson's disease (PD). Forty-seven patients were bilaterally implanted for STN DBS and clinically evaluated according to the Core Assessment Program for Intracerebral Transplantations before surgery and 3, 12 and 24 months after surgery. Electrical stimulation led to a significant improvement in motor symptoms and in the quality of life, allowing a significant reduction of dopaminergic drugs with a consequent improvement of drug-induced dyskinesias. Statistical differences were observed between UPDRS parts II, III and IV values and daily levodopa dosage in the pre- and postoperative periods, while no differences were evident between the 3 postoperative conditions.
