Cerebrospinal fluid levels of oxidative stress measured using diacron-reactive oxygen metabolites and biological antioxidant potential in patients with Parkinson's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor and non-motor symptoms. Because no curative therapy is available for PD, elucidation of its pathophysiology is important to establish more effective treatments. Oxidative stress (OS) has gained attention and been investigated as one of the candidates involved in the pathogenesis of PD. This study aimed to evaluate OS in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with PD and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) using diacron-reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROMs) and biological antioxidant potential (BAP) tests, which can easily assess OS in liquid samples. Results were compared to the clinical background of patients and with those of the normal control (NC) group. CSF samples were obtained from 69 patients with PD, 14 patients with PSP, and 22 individuals in the NC group. OS levels and antioxidant capacity were measured using d-ROMs and BAP tests, respectively. CSF d-ROM levels were extremely low (<10 U.CARR) in all 3 groups than the plasma d-ROM levels. Antioxidant capacity was significantly higher in patients with PSP (1074 ± 79 μM) than in patients with PD (918 ± 350 μM) (p = 0.019). In the PD group, antioxidant capacity was significantly lower in patients with tremor (858 ± 269 μM) than in those without tremor (1132 ± 505 μM) (p = 0.004). Our study suggests that the CSF level of OS is under homeostatic control of antioxidative mechanisms in healthy individuals as well as those with neurodegenerative diseases, and increased antioxidant capacity can indicate the CSF level of OS. The lower CSF level of OS in the tremor dominant subtype of PD may be the reason for the benign clinical course.