MONDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- Men with naturally high
levels of the antioxidant urate in their blood appear to develop
the symptoms of Parkinson's disease slower than those with lower
levels do, a new report says.
The findings, published in the April issue of the
Archives of Neurology, support early laboratory studies
about urate's protective qualities and offer hope for future
disease therapies to delay Parkinson's symptoms such as tremors,
rigidity and difficulty walking and talking.
Urate is a salt derived from uric acid, and it is a normal
component of blood; however, high levels can lead to gout and
kidney stones.
In a two-year study of 800 men recently diagnosed with
Parkinson's, researchers from the MassGeneral Institute for
Neurodegenerative Disease and Harvard School of Public Health found
that those with the highest urate levels at the study's start had
almost half the risk of needing to start Parkinson's treatment
drugs as did those with the lowest levels.
Brain scans showed that participants with higher urate levels
also lost the fewest dopamine-producing neurons. Parkinson's
disease is caused when brain cells that produce the
neurotransmitter dopamine are destroyed.
"These findings, combined with prior knowledge of urate's
protective properties in laboratory studies, raise the possibility
that urate-elevating strategies could be used to slow the
neurodegeneration of Parkinson's disease," study author Michael
Schwarzschild, an associate professor of neurology at Harvard
Medical School, said in a prepared statement.
"Potential benefits of urate have to be tempered against the
known risks of elevated urate levels, which include gout and kidney
stones. From what we know now, urate elevation should only be
attempted in the context of a closely monitored clinical trial, in
which potential benefits and risks are carefully balanced,"
Schwarzschild said.
More information
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