Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 Feb;57(2):176-9.
doi: 10.1002/ana.20369.

Blood-brain barrier dysfunction in parkinsonian midbrain in vivo

Rudie Kortekaas  1 , Klaus L Leenders, Joost C H van Oostrom, Willem Vaalburg, Joost Bart, Antoon T M Willemsen, N Harry Hendrikse
Affiliations

Blood-brain barrier dysfunction in parkinsonian midbrain in vivo

Rudie Kortekaas et al. Ann Neurol. 2005 Feb.

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with a loss of neurons from the midbrain. The cause of PD is unknown, but it is established that certain neurotoxins can cause similar syndromes. The brain is normally protected from these noxious blood-borne chemicals by the blood-brain barrier which includes specialized proteins on the inside of blood vessels in the brain. These act as molecular efflux pumps and P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is an abundant representative. Vulnerability to PD appears codetermined by the genotype for the P-gp gene. We hypothesized that PD patients have reduced P-gp function in the blood-brain barrier. We used positron emission tomography to measure brain uptake of [(11)C]-verapamil, which is normally extruded from the brain by P-gp. Here, we show significantly elevated uptake of [(11)C]-verapamil (18%) in the midbrain of PD patients relative to controls. This is the first evidence supporting a dysfunctional blood-brain barrier as a causative mechanism in PD.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources

-