Association of serum carotenoid, retinol, and tocopherol concentrations with the progression of Parkinson's Disease

Abstract

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVESA pivotal role of oxidative stress has been emphasized in the pathogenesis as well as in the disease progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). We aimed at investigating serum levels of antioxidant vitamins and elucidating whether they could be associated with the pathogenesis and progression of PD.MATERIALS/METHODSSerum levels of retinol, α- and γ-tocopherols, α- and β-carotenes, lutein, lycopene, zeaxanthin and β-cryptoxanthin were measured and compared between 104 patients with idiopathic PD and 52 healthy controls matched for age and gender. In order to examine the relationship between antioxidant vitamins and the disease progression, multiple group comparisons were performed among the early PD (Hoehn and Yahr stage I and II, N = 47), advanced PD (stage III and IV, N = 57) and control groups. Separate correlation analyses were performed between the measured antioxidant vitamins and clinical variables, such as Hoehn and Yahr stage and Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor score.RESULTSCompared to controls, PD patients had lower levels of α- and β-carotenes and lycopene. α-carotene, β-carotene and lycopene levels were significantly reduced in advanced PD patients relative to early PD patients and were negatively correlated with Hoehn and Yahr stage and UPDRS motor score in PD patients. No significant differences were found in serum levels of retinol, α- and γ-tocopherols, and other carotenoids between PD patients and controls. No significant correlations were found between these vitamin levels and clinical variables in PD patients.CONCLUSIONSWe found that serum levels of some carotenoids, α-carotene, β-carotene and lycopene, were lower in PD patients, and that these carotenoids inversely correlated with clinical variables representing disease progression. Our findings suggest that decreases in serum α-carotene, β-carotene and lycopene may be associated with the pathogenesis as well as progression of PD.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels in patients with Parkinson’s disease

“…Twenty-one eligible observational studies were selected, including 13 case-control [10,11,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] and 8 cohort studies [9,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Thirteen case-control studies included 5529 PD patients and 6176 controls.…”

“…Flow diagram of study selection for the meta-analysis21,23,27]. Other details of the baseline data are shown in…”

Recent Advances in Studies on the Therapeutic Potential of Dietary Carotenoids in Neurodegenerative Diseases

“…To clarify the inconsistencies observed in human studies, a recent systematic review that analyzed pooled data from relevant papers published between 1990 and 2013 raised the possibility that both α - and β -carotene levels might be inversely proportional to PD risk [ 137 ]. Following this systematic study, a very recent paper by Kim et al [ 138 ] reported that the serum levels of some carotenoids ( α -carotene, β -carotene, and lycopene) were significantly lower in PD patients, and that these carotenoids were inversely correlated with clinical variables representing disease progression. On the contrary, another study reported that the consumption of vitamin E and carotenoids was not associated with the risk of PD [ 139 ].…”

The Role of Oxidative Stress in Parkinson’s Disease

“…RA levels in plasma of PD patients are reduced [ 169 ]. PD patients also demonstrate reduced levels of α- and β-carotenes and lycopene in serum, which also inversely correlated with motor part of UPDRS scores and Hoehn and Yahr stage [ 170 ].…”