Gulf War Syndrome

[Carrol Cox]

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."