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Decreased catecholamine content in parkinsonian adrenal medullae
S L Stoddard1, G M Tyce, J E Ahlskog
1Department of Anatomy, Indiana University School of Medicine, Fort Wayne 46805.
Abstract:
Autopsy specimens of adrenal medullae from parkinsonian and nonparkinsonian patients were analyzed for free catecholamines by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. The total free catecholamine content (nanomoles free catecholamine per milligram protein) was significantly lower in the parkinsonian patients than in the control population when the values were corrected for age and time from death to organ harvest. It is not established whether this decreased catecholamine content in the adrenals of parkinsonian patients is a concomitant of the disease itself or whether it is secondary to drug therapies used to treat the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.