Inhibitory and excitatory amino acids in the cerebrospinal fluid of children with two types of cerebral palsy

BACKGROUND： Under normal conditions, excitatory amino acids are dynamically balanced with inhibitory amino acids. Excitatory amino acids have been implicated in perinatal brain injury. OBJECTIVE： To investigate differences in the levels of the excitatory amino acids glutamic acid and aspartic acid, and the inhibitory amino acid gamma-aminobutyric acid （GABA） in the cerebrospinal fluid （CSF） of children with spastic cerebral palsy or athetotic cerebral palsy. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING： Case-control exploratory observation of neurotransmitter in patients. The experiment was performed in the Pediatrics Department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Changsha Medical College, the Cerebral Palsy Center of Xiangtan Affiliated Hospital of South China University and the Pediatrics Department of Xiangya Hospital, between February 2006 and May 2007. PARTICIPANTS： We selected 27 children with cerebral palsy, including 13 with spastic cerebral palsy and 14 with athetotic cerebral palsy. We selected 10 patients who were not affected by any neurological disease as controls. METHODS： Two mL blood-free CSF was harvested between the third and fourth lumbar vertebrae of each patient after anesthesia, and stored at -70℃. One mL CSF was mixed with 10 mg sulfosalicylic acid and placed in ice-bath for 10 minutes, then centrifuged 2 000 g for 10 minutes. The supernatant was collected for amino acid quantitation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： The concentrations of glutamic acid, aspartic acid and GABA in the CSF were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography and fluorometric method. The correlation of glutamic acid, aspartic acid and GABA levels with muscular tension in children with cerebral palsy was analyzed using linear dependence. RESULTS： The concentration of GABA was significantly lower in both spastic cerebral palsy and athetotic cerebral palsy patients than in the control group （P 〈 0.01）. Glutamic acid and aspartic acid were significantly higher in both cerebral palsy groups than in the control group （P 〈 0.05-0.01）. The concentration of GABA was significantly decreased in spastic cerebral palsy patients compared with the athetotic cerebral palsy group （P 〈 0.05）. Muscular tension was positively correlated with the concentration of glutamic acid in spastic cerebral palsy patients （P 〈 0.05） but there was no significant correlation between aspartic acid or GABA and muscular tension （P 〉 0.05）. CONCLUSION： Spastic cerebral palsy and athetotic cerebral palsy patients exhibit an imbalance of excitatory amino acids and inhibitory amino acids in their CSF： an increase in glutamic acid and aspartic acid, and a decrease in GABA. Amino acid levels are different in the CSF in varied types of cerebral palsy.

Effect of Diazepam on the Contents of Amino Acids and Free Radical during Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury

The protective effect and mechanism of diazepam on ischemia neurons during cerebral ischemia and reperfusion were studied. Sixty three Wistar rats were divided randomly into nine groups: control group , ischemia groups including subgroups of is3h, is3 h/rep1 h, is3 h/rep2 h, is3 h/rep3 h, diazepam treated groups , including subgroups of is3 h, is3 h/rep1 h, is3 h/rep2 h, is3 h/rep3 h with Zea longa's animal model of middle cerebral artery occlusion. The comparison between the ischemia group and diazepam treated group showed that diazepam could obviously decrease the production of glutamate, asparate, MDA and increase the synthesis and release of GABA, SOD and GSH PX. It was concluded that diazepam exerted its protective effects on neurons through complex mechanisms of regulating the synthesis and release of excitotary/inhibitory amino acids and free radicals.

Compound Formula Rehmannia alleviates levodopainduced dyskinesia in Parkinson's disease

Compound Formula Rehmannia has been shown to be clinically effective in treating Parkinson＇s disease and levodopa-induced dyskinesia; however, the mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we established a model of Parkinson＇s disease dyskinesia in rats, and treated these animals with Compound Formula Rehmannia. Compound Formula Rehmannia inhibited the increase in mRNA expression of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunits 1 and 2 and excitatory amino acid neurotransmitter genes, and it inhibited the reduction in expression of γ-aminobutyric acid receptor B1, an inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitter gene, in the corpus striatum. In addition, Compound Formula Rehmannia alleviated dyskinesia symptoms in the Parkinson＇s disease rats. These experimental findings indicate that Compound Formula Rehmannia alleviates levodopa-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson＇s disease by modulating neurotransmitter signaling in the corpus striatum.

A new ureido-substituted amino acid from the tubers of Gymnadenia conopsea

A new ureido-substituted amino acid,conopsamide A（1）,has been isolated from an ethanolic extract of the tubers of Gymnadenia conopsea.Its structure was elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis,and the absolute configuration was assigned by Marfey＇s method.The new compound was evaluated for in vitro assay for HDACl（Histone Deacetylase 1） inhibitory activity.