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Biomedical subjects

C D Marsden

Publications and source records attributed to C D Marsden.

At least 865 records · Page 48Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Deprenyl in the management of response fluctuations in patients with Parkinson's disease on levodopa.

Fluctuations in response to levodopa are a common and serious complication of long-term levodopa therapy. It may be possible to prolong the effect of each dose of levodopa by retarding the breakdown of dopamine. The selective monoamine oxidase type B inhibitor deprenyl, which is extensively metabolised to amphetamine and methamphetamine, has this effect as well as possible actions on dopamine release and re-uptake. In a double-blind crossover trial against placebo, deprenyl prolonged the action of levodopa and produced an objective improvement in mobility in five of 10 patients with dose-related response swings, and a subjective improvement in a further four patients. In another group of seven patients with random fluctuations in symptoms, only two noted subjective improvement, and there was an apparent increase in the severity of response swings in five patients. Deprenyl exacerbated dyskinesias, but had no serious side-effects. We conclude that deprenyl is unlikely to benefit patients with random response swings, and may cause deterioration in such cases. However, it may be a useful adjuvant in the management of dose-related response fluctuations in patients already on optional levodopa therapy.

Aged↗
PubMed1980

A patient with reflex myoclonus and muscle rigidity: "jerking stiff-man syndrome".

A patient with progressive muscular rigidity associated with reflex myoclonus is described. The muscular rigidity was predominantly axial, and the myoclonic jerks affected axial and leg muscles. Jerks occurred either spontaneously, or in response to touch to the perioral region, or to stretch of head and neck muscles. Physiological investigations suggested that the myoclonus originated in the medulla and was mediated by fast-conducting pathways upwards through the brainstem and down the spinal cord. The relationship of this condition to other types of muscular rigidity with and without myoclonus is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Reversible supranuclear ophthalmoplegia associated with Parkinsonism.

Two patients presented with a supranuclear ophthalmoplegia and clinical features otherwise indistinguishable from classical Parkinson's disease. Both had intercurrent infection, and recovery from the ophthalmoplegia paralleled that from the infection, but the Parkinsonian features improved more gradually on increasing doses of levodopa.

Aged↗
PubMed1979

Tardive dyskinesias.

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Antipsychotic Agents↗
PubMed1979

Changes in dopamine-mediated behaviour during one year's neuroleptic administration.

Trifluoperazine (2.5--3.5 mg/kg/day) or thioridazine (30--40 mg/kg/day) were given in the drinking water to male Wistar rats for 12 months. Initial catalepsy and inhibition of spontaneous locomotion disappeared by 3 months and thereafter. Initial inhibition of stereotypy induced by s.c. apomorphine also disappeared by 3 months to be replaced by an enhanc-d stereotypy response after 6 and 12 months' drug intake. Drug-treated animals exhibited a greatly increased incidence of spontaneous mouth movements after 12 months' intake compared with control animals. Lower doses of both drugs (trifluoperazine 0.7--0.9 mg/kg/day; thioridazine 6--8 mg/kg/day) also initially suppressed behavioural responses but by 1 month and thereafter these animals were indistinguishable from controls. At 12 months, however, these animals also exhibited an increased incidence of spontaneous mouth movements. The data demonstrate a reversal of the initial dopamine receptor-blocking properties of trifluoperazine or thioridazine to be replaced by an enhanced response of cerebral dopamine systems while animals were still continuously receiving the drug.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

The emotion of pain and its chemistry.

Pain is not an electrical impulse derived from tissue injury but an emotional experience arising when a nervous input is interpreted in the light of experience and emotional context as being 'painful'. Pain may thus signify tissue damage, vivid sensory experience or inner turmoil. Pain may be distressing but it can also be pleasurable. Whether a given stimulus provokes pain and whether that emotional feeling causes distress varies from individual to individual and from moment to moment. The brain possesses chemically mediated mechanisms that can exert control over the experience of 'pain'. An understanding of such mechanisms suggests new approaches to the relief of distressing pain (and to the artificial production of pleasurable pain).

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Dopamine-mediated circling behaviour does not involve the nigro-tectal pathway.

Extensive unilateral or bilateral electrolytic ablation of the rat superior colliculus failed to reduce apomorphine- or amphetamine-induced rotation in animals with a unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesion of one nigro-striatal dopaminergic pathway. These findings suggest that a nigro-tectal pathway does not play a crucial role in mediating the circling response caused by striatal dopamine receptor stimulation. However, electrolytic lesions of the dorsal tegmental decussation reduced apomorphine- but not amphetamine-induced rotation in such animals, perhaps by sectioning some commissural pathway between the two nigro-striatal systems.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Turning behaviour induced by injection of muscimol or picrotoxin into the substantia nigra demonstrates dual GABA components.

Injection of the GABA agonist muscimol into rat caudal substantia nigra caused contralateral turning, whereas injection into the rostral substantia nigra caused ipsilateral turning. The GABA antagonist picrotoxin had the opposite effect. These findings support the hypothesis that GABA has dual actions in the substantia nigra. Ipsilateral turning induced by injection of muscimol into rostral nigra was abolished by haloperidol pretreatment, indicating the involvement of dopaminergic mechanisms. Haloperidol pre-treatment did not prevent turning induced by muscimol injected into the caudal nigra, supporting the existence of a non-dopaminergic nigral output system.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Attitudes of families to some aspects of Huntington's chorea.

One hundred and fifty-three complete questionnaires received from families with a history of Huntington's chorea were analysed to discover their attitudes towards the disease. Of special interest were: (a) how and when they were first informed about their illness; (b) what effects the knowledge of the hereditary aspects of the disease had on them and on their children; and (c) their reaction to a possible future predictive test.

Adult↗