Gulf War Syndrome Related to Injury to Dopaminergic Neurons in Basal Ganglia
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Sept 25 - New data demonstrating neurotransmitter derangement associated with neuronal abnormalities of basal ganglia provide further evidence that Gulf War syndrome is a neurologic illness, according to Texas-based researchers.
In May, Reuters Health reported on a study using MR spectroscopy that revealed damage to the basal ganglia as a possible cause of Gulf War syndrome. Dr. Robert W. Haley, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and other members of the same team extend their findings by measuring an index of central dopamine activity in the same group of subjects and controls.
As reported in the September issue of the Archives of Neurology, the study included 12 male veterans with Gulf War syndrome of the "confusion-ataxia" type and 15 healthy controls. The investigators measured ratios of plasma homovanillic acid to 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol, which they say closely approximates dopamine activity in the brain.
"The age-standardized central dopamine index was inversely associated with the functioning neuronal mass of the left basal ganglia," Dr. Haley's group writes. Thus, the activity of postsynaptic dopaminergic neurons is increased in those with the greatest amount of neuronal loss, they add.
These findings suggest new directions for pharmacologic treatment of Gulf War syndrome, and they also raise the concern that these patients may develop parkinsonlike syndromes if their dopaminergic systems become further damaged or depleted, the investigators write.
Dr. Roger N. Rosenberg, chief editor of Archives of Neurology, writes that the report provides "formidable evidence for the first time in support of a neurochemical basis of the Persian Gulf War syndrome."