[Catecholamine metabolism in extrapyramidal disorders in patients with chronic hypertensive encephalopathy].

Total and cerebral metabolism of catecholamines (CA) was examined in patients with associated chronic hypertonic encephalopathy and extrapyramidal disorders. It was discovered for the first time that there was an increase in noradrenaline in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid together with a lowering of the content of dopamine and major metabolite thereof along the pathway of oxidative deamination of homovanillic acid. CA metabolism was shown to correlate with the patients' age, duration and gravity of extrapyramidal disorders. It is suggested that the revealed metabolic disorders of CA--neurotransmitters which are likely to underlie the development of neurological deficiency and characteristic mental disorders occur as a result of the diverse complex of biochemical alterations and are related both to the complex mechanisms of the pathogenesis of essential hypertension and ischemic injury to the brain as well as to the localization in the brain of lacunar infarctions. The complexity of the pathogenic treatment of the disease is emphasized. The main approaches to the pharmacological correction of the revealed disorders are outlined.