Browsing by Author "Santos, Patricia Valerio"
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- Clinical Characterization of Parkinson s Disease Patients Followed at CHCB Comparison with a control groupPublication . Santos, Patricia Valerio; Baltazar, Graça Maria Fernandes; Rosado, Maria Luiza ConstanteParkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, characterized by four motor symptoms: rest tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity and postural instability. Diagnosis is made through strict clinical criteria, but clinical diagnosis is difficult in the early disease state and frequently does not allow a definitive diagnose. One hallmark of Parkinson’s disease is the death of the pigmented dopaminergic neurons of midbrain substantia nigra, with consequent loss of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the corpus striatum. The exact mechanisms underlying are still not understood and current theories include neuroinflammation and oxidative stress. Evidences suggest the presence of chronically activated microglia and several studies detected higher levels of their markers, namely cytokines and oxidative stress products. The main objectives of this study were to characterize CHCB’s Parkinson population, to evaluate inflammatory and oxidative markers and immunological status. Medical records were evaluated for patients (n=38) and healthy controls (n=32). Patient’s motor symptoms at onset and at evaluation were determined. The inflammatory markers measured were C reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and serum cytokines (interleukins 1ß, 8, 6, 10, 12p70 and Tumor Necrosis Factor). Immunological status was accessed through leukogram. Urate was our oxidative marker. The cytokines measurement reveals values below the lower limits of detection for all. C reactive protein was higher in patients, but erythrocyte sedimentation rate was similar between both groups. In leukogram analysis, we detected higher values of neutrophils in patients. However, lymphocytes were the only that decrease throughout the temporal evolution of the disease and in patients using higher doses of L-DOPA. We attempted to clarify the real cause of lymphocytes decrease. Although there was a tendency to observe a lower number of lymphocytes for higher doses of L-DOPA in all phases of temporal evolution of the disease, the difference was not statistically significant. In relation to urate, we obtained lower values in patients and the decrease was marked in the higher stages of the disease and longer disease duration. Regarding inflammatory aspects of the disease, our study showed that cytokine pattern is not sensitive or specific to assess disease progression. On the other hand, the antioxidant urate presents us as a putative marker of disease severity.