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Correlations between plasma levels of amino acids and nonmotor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease

  • Neurology and Preclinical Neurological Studies - Original Article
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Abstract

Converging evidence suggests that changes in plasma levels of amino acids are involved in Parkinson’s disease (PD), but their roles in nonmotor symptoms (NMS) of PD remain unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlations between plasma amino acids and NMS of PD. Plasma levels of aspartate (Asp), glutamate (Glu), glycine (Gly) and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) were measured in 92 PD patients and 60 healthy controls. Four NMS, including depression, pain, sleep disturbances and autonomic dysfunction were assessed in enrolled subjects using the Hamilton Depression Scale, the short form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Scale for Outcomes in Parkinson’s disease for Autonomic Symptoms, respectively. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate the correlations between plasma levels of amino acids and NMS. PD patients exhibited significantly higher scores of NMS scales and lower plasma levels of amino acids compared to healthy controls. Within the PD group, plasma levels of Asp and Glu were negatively associated with the severity of depression and sleep disturbances. Moreover, decreased plasma level of GABA was correlated with more severe symptoms of sleep disturbances. After controlling for gender, disease duration, severity of motor symptoms and anti-parkinsonian medications, Glu but not Asp remained significantly associated with depression, along with Asp, GABA but not Glu remained negatively associated with sleep disturbances. The altered plasma levels of amino acids may be implicated in the pathogenesis of NMS of PD.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the University Natural Science Research Project in Jiangsu Province (No. 13KJB32009), the Natural science foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20141494), the Opening Project of Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Neurodegeneration (No. SJ11KF01) and the Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, No. 300 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Qing Tong, Qinrong Xu, Yongsheng Yuan, Li Zhang & Kezhong Zhang

  2. Department of Neurology, Changzhou NO. 2 People’s Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, No. 29 Xinglong Alley, Changzhou, 213003, China

    Qiang Xia

  3. Department of Pharmacology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Neurodegeneration, Nanjing Medical University, 140 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Hongbin Sun & Han Shan

Authors
  1. Qing Tong
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  2. Qinrong Xu
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  3. Qiang Xia
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  4. Yongsheng Yuan
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  5. Li Zhang
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  6. Hongbin Sun
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  7. Han Shan
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  8. Kezhong Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kezhong Zhang.

Additional information

Q. Tong, Q. Xu and Q. Xia contributed equally to this work.

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Tong, Q., Xu, Q., Xia, Q. et al. Correlations between plasma levels of amino acids and nonmotor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease. J Neural Transm 122, 411–417 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-014-1280-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-014-1280-5

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