Purine molecules in Parkinson's disease: Analytical techniques and clinical implications

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that primarily affects patients over the age of 65. PD is characterized by loss of neurons in the substantia nigra and dopamine deficiency in the striatum. Once PD is clinically diagnosed by the observation of motor dysfunction, the disease is already in its advance stages. Consequently, there is a major push to identify clinical biomarkers that are useful for the earlier detection of PD. Using untargeted metabolomics, several research groups have identified purine molecules, and specifically urate, as important biomarkers related to PD. This review will summarize recent findings in the field of purine metabolomics and biomarker identification for PD, including in the areas of PD pathophysiology, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. In addition, this article will summarize and examine the primary research techniques that are employed to quantify purine molecules in both experimental systems and human subjects.