Essential Tremor: Change in the concentrations of amino acids in CSF and serum

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Change in the concentrations of amino acids in CSF and serum of

patients with essential tremor

Journal of Neural Transmission

Volume 103, Number 5 / May, 1996

http://www.springerlink.com/content/t7t48545106q527l/

J. Málly1, M. Baranyi2 and E. S. Vizi2

(1) Present address: St. Hospital, Székesfehérvár

(2) Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of

Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

Summary The concentrations of amino acids in the cerebrospinal

fluid (CSF) (n=20) and serum (n=20) taken from patients with

essential tremor were measured by HPLC and compared with those of

controls (n=10). Reduced concentrations of some amino acids

(asparagine, glutamine, glycine, threonine, isoleucine, leucine)

were observed in serum taken from patients with tremor. Significant

increases were detected in the concentrations of glutamate (p <

0.001) and aspartate (p < 0.01). The general tendency of the changes

in CSF and serum was similar; although the highest differences were

observed in amino acid concentrations in the serum of patients with

essential tremor. Opposite shifts of some amino acids were detected,

in the concentrations of aspartate, serine, tyrosine, leucine, and

isoleucine, which may indicate the independence of the changes in

the serum from those in the CSF. This study raises the possibility

that a genetically determined metabolic disorder is involved in the

etiology of essential tremor that appears peripherally and, partly,

centrally.

The slight increase in the concentration of glutamate together with

the reduced levels of GABA, glycine, and serine in CSF may form the

neurochemical basis of the central oscillation observed in essential

tremor.