Authors: K J Bharucha J K Friedman A S Vincent E D Ross
Publish Date: 2009/01/22
Volume: 255, Issue: 12, Pages: 1957-
Abstract
Ceruloplasmin functions as a ferroxidase in iron metabolism Parkinson’s disease PD is characterized by an increase in brain iron We postulated that lower circulating ceruloplasmin levels in PD would result in rapid brain iron accumulation and an earlier age of onset Consecutive PD patients were separated into subgroups with younger ≤ 60 years n = 62 and older ages of onset 60 n = 29 and compared to nonPD controls n = 40 A oneway ANOVA comparing ceruloplasmin levels showed a very robust effect F2128 = 464 p 1e99 Post hoc analysis demonstrated that the youngeronset PD subgroup 220 mg/dl ± 65 SD had a lower mean ceruloplasmin level compared to the olderonset PD subgroup 357 ± 104 and controls 356 ± 84 whose levels did not differ from each other Ceruloplasmin levels showed robust correlation with age of onset in all 91 PD patients r = 056 r2 = 031 p 00001 but not in the nonPD controls r = 016 r2 = 003 not significant Mode of onset and duration of PD showed no relationship to ceruloplasmin Serum copper and ferritin available in most patients did not differ between the PD subgroups Youngeronset PD patients have significantly lower levels of serum ceruloplasmin compared to those with olderonset PD Ceruloplasmin may play a role in the etiopathogenesis of youngeronset PD patients and merits further study
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