Amin F, Seeman T E, Mohs R C, Davidson M, Knott P, Berkman L F, Albert M, Blazer D
Psychiatry Service, Bronx VA Medical Center, New York 10468.
Neuropsychopharmacology. 1994 Feb;10(1):29-35. doi: 10.1038/npp.1994.4.
To investigate the dopaminergic correlates of the aging-related motor and cognitive deficits, the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA) in plasma was studied in a community-dwelling elderly cohort (n = 141). The results showed that hand-signature time (HST), a measure of bradykinesia, correlated negatively with plasma HVA (r = -0.24, p < .007). Similarities task performance showed a trend-level positive correlation with plasma HVA (r = 0.15, p = .08). Because plasma HVA is derived from several sources including central dopaminergic neurons and both central and peripheral noradrenergic neurons, the noradrenergic metabolite 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) in plasma was also measured to indirectly estimate the relationships, with HVA originating from noradrenergic metabolism. Plasma MHPG significantly correlated with similarities scores (r = 0.34, p < .001) but not with HST. The results suggested that the association of HVA with prolonged HST may be related to central dopamine metabolism, but its association with similarities scores may be due to noradrenergic metabolism. The results raise the possibility that prolonged HST may be an indicator of preclinical brain dopamine loss in the elderly.
为研究与衰老相关的运动和认知缺陷的多巴胺能相关性，我们在一个社区老年队列（n = 141）中对血浆中的多巴胺代谢产物高香草酸（HVA）进行了研究。结果显示，作为运动迟缓指标的手写签名时间（HST）与血浆HVA呈负相关（r = -0.24，p <.007）。相似性任务表现与血浆HVA呈趋势性正相关（r = 0.15，p =.08）。由于血浆HVA来源于多个来源，包括中枢多巴胺能神经元以及中枢和外周去甲肾上腺素能神经元，因此还测量了血浆中的去甲肾上腺素能代谢产物3-甲氧基-4-羟基苯乙二醇（MHPG），以间接评估与源自去甲肾上腺素能代谢的HVA的关系。血浆MHPG与相似性得分显著相关（r = 0.34，p <.001），但与HST无关。结果表明，HVA与延长的HST之间的关联可能与中枢多巴胺代谢有关，但其与相似性得分的关联可能归因于去甲肾上腺素能代谢。这些结果增加了延长的HST可能是老年人临床前脑多巴胺丢失指标的可能性。
