Abstract
Amino acids play numerous roles in the central nervous system, serving as neurotransmitters, neuromodulators and regulators of energy metabolism. The free amino acid profile in serum of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients may be influenced by neurodegeneration, mitochondrial dysfunction, malabsorption in the gastroenteric tract and received treatment. The aim of our study was the evaluation of the profile of amino acid concentrations against disease progression. We assessed the amino acid profile in the serum of 73 patients divided into groups with early PD, late PD with dyskinesia and late PD without dyskinesia. Serum amino acid analysis was performed by high-pressure liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. We observed some significant differences amongst the groups with respect to concentrations of alanine, arginine, phenylalanine and threonine, although no significant differences were observed between patients with advanced PD with and without dyskinesia. We conclude that this specific amino acid profile could serve as biochemical marker of PD progression.
Highlights
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder of unknown origin
We evaluated serum basic amino acid profiles in our patients, including homocysteine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, asparagine, serine, glutamine, glycine, threonine, citrulline, arginine, alanine, taurine, valine, methionine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, isoleucine, ornithine, leucine, lysine, proline, and tyrosine. 10 ml blood samples were obtained after 12 hours fasting and no treatment period
We observed that higher serum concentrations of arginine, alanine, glutamic acid, and phenylalanine correlate with shorter disease duration and we found lower concentrations of these amino acids in patients with longer disease duration
Summary
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder of unknown origin. Mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, environmental and genetic factors contribute to its development. Progressive loss of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons as well as noradrenergic, cholinergic and serotoninergic neurons leads to development of PD symptoms. PD patients develop problems with gastric tract motility. Dyskinesia and tremor combined with impaired digestion may lead to malnutrition [1,2,3,4,5]. Amino acid-related research in PD was mainly performed with high-pressure liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. Mass spectrometry techniques have been used to analyze a larger number of amino acid compounds as well as their derivatives and dipeptides, allowing for a better understanding of this disorder [6, 7]
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