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Updated: May 19, 2026

Assessment of Blood-brain Barrier Permeability by Intravenous Infusion of FITC-labeled Albumin in a Mouse Model of Neurodegenerative Disease
Published on: November 8, 2017
Increased blood-cerebrospinal fluid transfer of albumin in advanced Parkinson's disease
Valerio Pisani1, Alessandro Stefani, Mariangela Pierantozzi
1Department of Neuroscience, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Background:
Alterations in blood-brain barrier permeability have been proposed to represent a relevant factor contributing to Parkinson's disease progression. However, few studies have addressed this issue in patients at different stages of disease.
Methods:
Albumin was measured in cerebrospinal fluid and serum samples obtained from 73 non-demented subjects with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and 47 age-matched control subjects. The albumin ratio (AR) was calculated to assess blood-cerebrospinal fluid and blood-brain barrier function. The group of patients with Parkinson's disease included 46 subjects with Hoehn-Yahr staging between 1 and 2 and 27, with a score ranging from 2.5 to 4.
Results:
Statistically significant differences in albumin ratio were found between patients with advanced disease, and both early-stage and unaffected groups. Conversely, early-phase patients did not differ from healthy subjects. Additionally, dopaminergic treatment seems to exert a possible effect on AR values.
Conclusions:
Our study demonstrates that possible dysfunction of the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier, blood-brain barrier, or both, characterize Parkinson's disease progression. The associations between clinical scores, treatments and biochemical findings suggest a progressive impairment of barrier integrity during the course of the disease.
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