Analysis of circulating metabolites to differentiate Parkinson's disease and essential tremor

Elena A. Ostrakhovitch, Eun Suk Song, Jessica K.A. Macedo, Matthew S. Gentry, Jorge E. Quintero, Craig van Horne, Tritia R. Yamasaki

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET) are two common adult-onset tremor disorders in which prevalence increases with age. PD is a neurodegenerative condition with progressive disability. In ET, neurodegeneration is not an established etiology. We sought to determine whether an underlying metabolic pattern may differentiate ET from PD. Circulating metabolites in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. There were several disrupted pathways in PD compared to ET plasma including glycolysis, tyrosine, phenylalanine, tyrosine biosynthesis, purine and glutathione metabolism. Elevated α-synuclein levels in plasma and CSF distinguished PD from ET. The perturbed metabolic state in PD was associated with imbalance in the pentose phosphate pathway, deficits in energy production, and change in NADPH, NADH and nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase levels. This work demonstrates significant metabolic differences in plasma and CSF of PD and ET patients.

Original languageEnglish
Article number136428
JournalNeuroscience Letters
Volume769
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 19 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021

Keywords

  • Alpha-synuclein
  • Cerebrospinal fluid
  • Metabolomic analysis
  • Parkinson's disease
  • Plasma

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience

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