Relationship of age and mood to monoamine metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid in parkinsonism.

Abstract

The concentrations of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) and homovanillic acid (HVA) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were measured in 63 patients with parkinsonism. HVA was lower than in healthy subjects, but it showed similar age-related changes. No age-related changes were found in 5-HIAA. These observations simply that the disturbances caused by the disease had also affected age-related alterations in the metabolism of 5-hydroxytryptamine. The levels of 5-HIAA and HVA in the CSF in patients suffering from depression and parkinsonism were the same as those found in non-depressed parkinsonian patients; in this respect the patients resembled others suffering from depression. There was no correlation between the therapeutic effects of drugs and the concentration of HVA in CSF. This finding, which differs from previous reports, means that analysis of monoamine metabolites in CSF was of no prognostic value.