Effects of acute tryptophan depletion on neuropsychological and motor function in Parkinson’s disease

Interactions between the 5-HT system and the dopaminergic system and cholinergic system may be important in determining cognitive function and motor function in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Previous studies have shown effects of reducing serotonin function, by acute tryptophan depletion (ATD), on neuro...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford) 2010-10, Vol.24 (10), p.1465-1472
Main Authors: Mace, JL, Porter, RJ, Dalrymple-Alford, JC, Wesnes, KA, Anderson, TJ
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Antagonists
Biological and medical sciences
Cholinergic transmission
Cognition - physiology
Cognitive ability
Cross-Over Studies
Deficiency Diseases - blood
Deficiency Diseases - complications
Deficiency Diseases - physiopathology
Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases
Depletion
Dopamine receptors
Double-Blind Method
Female
Humans
Latency
Male
Medical sciences
Memory
Memory, Short-Term
Middle Aged
Motor task performance
Movement disorders
Movement Disorders - physiopathology
Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes)
Nervous system as a whole
Neurodegenerative diseases
Neurology
Neuropharmacology
Neuropsychological Tests
Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology
Parkinson Disease - blood
Parkinson Disease - complications
Parkinson Disease - physiopathology
Parkinson's disease
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychomotor Performance
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Reaction Time
Serotonin
Serotonin - physiology
Severity of Illness Index
Tryptophan
Tryptophan - administration & dosage
Tryptophan - blood
Tryptophan - deficiency
Visual perception
Visual tasks
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Interactions between the 5-HT system and the dopaminergic system and cholinergic system may be important in determining cognitive function and motor function in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Previous studies have shown effects of reducing serotonin function, by acute tryptophan depletion (ATD), on neuropsychological function. In particular, an adverse effect on verbal memory has been demonstrated. This study compared with the effects of ATD on cognitive and motor function in PD and healthy control subjects. The effects of ATD were investigated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, counterbalanced, cross-over, randomised design in 20 patients with PD and 35 healthy controls matched for age, gender and premorbid IQ. There was a differential group effect of ATD on global cognitive function whereby the mean score on the modified mini mental state examination during ATD was lower than placebo in PD but higher in controls. There was a similar pattern of effects on verbal recognition. In a visual recognition task, ATD improved performance in the PD but not in the control group. In terms of psychomotor speed, there was also a group-specific effect with reduced latency of response during ATD in the PD group but increased latency in the control group. ATD has subtle neuropsychological effects, which differ significantly between PD and healthy control subjects. This suggests that the dopaminergic and cholinergic deficit of PD significantly modulates the effects of serotonin depletion, resulting in positive effects in some domains. Further investigation on the effects of specific serotonin antagonists may be merited in PD.
ISSN:0269-8811
1461-7285
DOI:10.1177/0269881109105721