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Striatal GABAergic Neuronal Activity Is Not Reduced in Parkinson's Disease
Author(s) -
Perry Thomas L.,
JavoyAgid France,
Agid Yves,
Fibiger Hans C.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1983.tb08102.x
Subject(s) - putamen , striatum , dopaminergic , parkinson's disease , endocrinology , medicine , glutamate decarboxylase , gabaergic , dopamine , tyrosine hydroxylase , nigrostriatal pathway , chemistry , substantia nigra , disease , biochemistry , receptor , enzyme
The content of y‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) and the activities of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) were measured in whole putamen obtained at autopsy from 13 patients dying with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and 13 appropriate control subjects. Mean GABA content was significantly elevated (by 28%) in the putamen of the Parkinson's disease patients. TH activity was markedly reduced, while there was no significant reduction of GAD activity in the putamen of these patients. GABA content was also measured in both sides of the striatum in rats which had received unilateral injections of 6‐hydroxydopamine (6‐OHDA) in the vicinity of the axons of the nigrostriatal projection. Mean GABA content was found significantly elevated (by 33%) in the ipsilateral striatum. Loss of dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons, in both human Parkinson's disease and in the rat 6‐OHDA model, is accompanied by increased striatal GABA content. The assumption that GABAergic neurotransmission is reduced in the striatum in Parkinson's disease may not be correct.