Elsevier

Brain Research

Volume 199, Issue 1, 13 October 1980, Pages 147-160
Brain Research

Regional distribution of methionine-enkephalin and substance P-like immunoreactivity in normal human brain and in Huntington's disease

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Summary

The regional distributions of substance P and Methionine-enkephalin (Metenkephalin) were determined in normal human brains and in Huntington's disease using sensitive radioimmunoassays. Model experiments showed that both Metenkephalin- and substance P-like immunoreactivities were stable for up to 72 h postmortem in mouse brain. The results of high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses indicated that the majority of the immunoreactivity detected in human globus pallidus corresponded to the native peptides, substance P or Met-enkephalin. In Huntington's disease the present results confirm that there is a substantial drop (>80%) in the substance P content of the globus pallidus (both medial and lateral segments) and substantia nigra, and there was also a reduction (>50 %) in the Metenkephalin content of these areas. This result suggests the loss of striato-pallidal and striato-nigral substance P and enkephalin-containing projections in Huntington's disease.

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      Similarly, by RIA Beal et al. (1988) observed extensive loss of SP from both SNr and SNc by Grade 1, followed by further loss in subsequent grades, with no clear differences between them at any grade. Other biochemical studies have reported varied results, however, with some observing greater loss of SP or GABA from SNr than SNc (Buck et al., 1981; Ellison et al., 1987; Emson et al., 1980; Kanazawa et al., 1977), and others the opposite (Gale et al., 1977). One study that distinguished HD cases as choreic (early to mid-HD) versus rigid (late HD) reported greater loss of GAD from SNr than SNc in both (Spokes, 1980).

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    *

    Present address: Dept. of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md. 21205, U.S.A.

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