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Eye-blink rate in Tourette's syndrome
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
|September 1, 1985
Summary
Blink rates in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome patients were not elevated compared to controls, challenging the dopamine hyperactivity hypothesis. Blink rate correlated with tic severity but not dopamine levels in adults.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Movement Disorders
Background:
- Gilles de la Tourette syndrome is a hyperkinetic disorder.
- A dopaminergic hyperactivity role has been proposed.
- Elevated blink rate is a proposed indicator of dopamine activity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate blink rate as a correlate of central dopamine activity in Tourette syndrome.
- To test the dopamine hypothesis of Tourette syndrome.
Main Methods:
- Blink rates of 19 Tourette syndrome patients were compared to 49 controls during reading and quiet sitting.
- Correlation between blink rate, tic number, and tic severity was assessed.
- Effect of pimozide treatment on blink rate was evaluated.
Main Results:
- Patients with Tourette syndrome showed identical blink rates to controls.
- Blink rate correlated positively with tic number and severity.
- Pimozide treatment did not alter blink rates.
Conclusions:
- The findings do not support elevated central dopamine activity in adult Tourette syndrome patients.
- Blink rate may reflect tic symptom load rather than dopamine levels.
