Eliseu Felippe dos Santos, Estela Natacha Brandt Busanello, Anelise Miglioranza, Angela Zanatta, Alethea Gatto Barchak, Carmen Regla Vargas, Jonas Saute, Charles Rosa, Maria Júlia Carrion, Daiane Camargo, André Dalbem, Jaderson Costa da Costa, Sandro René Pinto de Sousa Miguel, Carlos Roberto de Mello Rieder, Moacir Wajner
In the present work we measured blood levels of total homocysteine ((t)Hcy), vitamin B(12) and folic acid in patients with Parkinson s disease (PD) and in age-matched controls and searched for possible associations between these levels with smoking, alcohol consumption, L-DOPA treatment and disease duration in PD patients. We initially observed that plasma (t)Hcy levels were increased by around 30 % in patients affected by PD compared to controls. Linear correlation, multiple regression and comparative analyses revealed that the major determinant of the increased plasma concentrations of (t)Hcy in PD patients was folic acid deficiency, whereas in controls (t)Hcy levels were mainly determined by plasma vitamin B(12) concentrations...
June 2009: Metabolic Brain Disease