Platelet monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) activity has been found to increase significantly in demented patients. For the first time, a 4-year follow-up of platelet MAO-B activity and Mini-Mental State (MMS) was performed in patients with probable dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) and age-matched controls. MAO-B activity of DAT patients increased significantly 2 years after the beginning of the study as compared with controls and remained significantly higher for the entire period of the examinations (p < 0.0001). The decrease of the MMS scores did not correlate with the time course of the increase of platelet MAO-B activity (Spearman rank correlation test). The decline of the MMS scores of DAT patients preceded the elevation of MAO-B activity. Since degenerative processes in brain areas which are responsible for cognitive function and are reflected by the MMS scores rather affect cerebral cholinergic than monoaminergic neurotransmitter systems, degeneration of the latter at late stages of DAT might be reflected by increased platelet MAO-B activity.

The activity of platelet monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) was highly correlated with the severity of dementia in 39 patients suffering from probable dementia of the Alzheimer type and in 18 age-matched controls. There was no association between a low vitamin B12 level and high MAO-B activity in our sample of patients, who are living in a geriatric hospital where the balanced nutrition of inpatients is controlled by diet assistants.

Monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B) activity of platelets of an age- and sex-matched group of controls was compared with several groups of inpatients having non-familial dementia of Alzheimer type (DAT), Parkinson's disease (PD), multi-infarct dementia (MID), mixed types of these 3 diseases and a group of other central nervous system (CNS) organic disorders. All patients were subjected to several psychometric tests, including the Sandoz Clinical Assessment--Geriatric Scale, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, Mini-Mental State Examination and the Organic mental Disorder Scale (OMDS). A statistically significant enhancement of MAO-B activity could be observed in DAT patients and in PD patients, whereas the MID group showed a mean activity similar to that of the control group and the group with other organic CNS disorders. In DAT patients the degree of dementia in the OMDS test and the enhancement of MAO activity were positively correlated, but PD did not show such a correlation. It is concluded that the increase of MAO activity in PD and in DAT might be due to a disease-related enhanced affinity to oxygen and to such oxygen-derived radicals as superoxide or hydroxyl radicals. However, a possible drug-induced enhancement of MAO activity in PD cannot be excluded. Furthermore, the MAO-B activity values in platelets of individual patients or controls are not indicative of diagnosis or prognosis of any of these diseases and are of no disease-related specificity.

Dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH) has been reported to be elevated in the serum of patients with idiopathic torsion dystonia. We have examined the levels in jewish patients suffering from that disease and found levels comparable to those of age-and sex-matched controls.

(1981). Chronic Central Nervous System Toxicity of the Chickling Pea (Lathyrus sativus) Clinical Toxicology: Vol. 18, No. 12, pp. 1513-1517.

A 53-year-old patient suffering from recurrent severe headache accompanied by visual symptoms was hospitalized for severe headache with brain stem signs. During cerebral arteriography he sustained an attack in which the basilar artery was severely constricted.

A country-wide search for idiopathic torsion dystonia (ITD) in Israel between 1969 and 1975 revealed 42 patients (41 Jewish and 1 Druze Arab). Prevalence of ITD per million population, age-adjusted to the United States population in 1970, was 10.8 in the total Jewish population (22.0 among Jews of European extraction contrasted with 1.5 among Jews with Afro-Asian forebears). Among Europeans, the highest prevalence was among Jews from Eastern Europe. The average age-adjusted annual incidence rates per million population were 0.43 in the total Jewish population, 0.98 in the Europeans, and 0.11 in the Afro-Asians. Among the 40 patients for whom familial data were available, the majority of cases (26) were sporadic. The other 14 belonged to four unrelated European families, all of Russian-Polish origin. The pattern of inheritance in these four families fits an autosomal dominant model with incomplete penetrance.

Sebum secretion was studied in 14 parkinsonian patients before and after 3 months of treatment with L-dopa. An abnormality of sebum secretion was shown to exist in parkinsonism. In 7 patients, successfully treated with L-dopa, sebum secretion diminished and its pattern improved. In all patients, in whom L-dopa treatment did not result in noticeable clinical changes, there was no significant modification in sebum secretion. No change was observed in the secretion of sebum of 5 normal control subjects, who were given L-dopa for 1 week.

A familial study of 13 Ashkenasy Jewish patients suffering from torsion dystonia (TD) of various origin, was carried out using clinical observation and determination of serum dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH) activity.