[Event-related potentials in progressive supranuclear palsy].

Abnormal event-related potential (ERP) has been reported in several types of dementing illness including Parkinson's disease (PD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). In this paper we report the result of EPR recordings obtained in normal control subjects (14 cases) and in patients with PSP (6 cases) and PD (32 cases). ERPs were recorded from 13 scalp electrodes, using the acoustic odd-ball paradigm. All PD patients were in early stage (Yahr stage 1 to 2), and all PSP patients were in the mild-to-moderate state. In control subjects and PD patients P3 was normal. In PSP patients, only one subject (17%) showed a normal P3 component, three cases (50%) demonstrated low amplitude and normal latency P3, and two cases (33%) featured lack of normal P3 sequence. The P3 abnormalities in PSP patients were not related with dementia, but with low amplitude P3 being observed in 2 of 3 non-demented patients, and abolished P3 in a patient with only mild dementia. The result suggests that the P3 changes in PSP patients develop earlier than the cognitive dysfunction, and they are related to the underlying subcortical lesion rather than dementia.