Abstract
Introduction
In autopsy cases staged for sporadic Parkinson’s disease (PD), the neuropathology is characterized by a preclinical phase that targets the enteric nervous system of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Therefore, the ENS might be a source of potential (presymptomatic) PD biomarkers.
Methods
In this clinically based study, we examined the alpha-synuclein (αSyn) concentration in an easily accessible protein storage medium of the GIT, dental calculus, in 21/50 patients with PD and 28/50 age- and gender-matched controls using ELISA.
Results
αSyn was detectable in dental calculus and the median concentration in the control patients was 8.6 pg/mg calculus (interquartile range 2.6–13.1 pg/mg). αSyn concentrations were significantly influenced by blood contamination and samples with a hemoglobin concentration of > 4000 ng/mL were excluded. There was no significant difference of αSyn concentrations in the dental calculus of PD patients (5.76 pg/mg, interquartile range 2.91–9.74 pg/mg) compared to those in controls (p = 0.40).
Conclusion
The total αSyn concentration in dental calculus is not a suitable biomarker for sporadic PD. Disease-related variants such as oligomeric or phosphorylated αSyn in calculus might prove to be more specific.
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Acknowledgements
We thank all patients for their participation in this study and Stephen Meier for skilful technical assistance. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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All patients or their next of kin provided written informed consent to participate in the study. The study was conducted at the University of Ulm in compliance with university ethics guideline as well as German federal and state law.
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Schmid, S., Goldberg-Bockhorn, E., Schwarz, S. et al. Alpha-synuclein is present in dental calculus but not altered in Parkinson’s disease patients in comparison to controls. J Neurol 265, 1334–1337 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-018-8847-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-018-8847-2