LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

Pancreatic Polypeptide in Parkinson's Disease: A Potential Marker of Parasympathetic Denervation.

Photo by tumbao1949 from unsplash

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Parkinson's disease (PD) patients experience several non-motor symptoms from the gastrointestinal tract that may partly be caused by parasympathetic deficiency. The pancreas is densely innervated by the… Click to show full abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Parkinson's disease (PD) patients experience several non-motor symptoms from the gastrointestinal tract that may partly be caused by parasympathetic deficiency. The pancreas is densely innervated by the vagus nerve, which mediates early meal-induced secretion of pancreatic polypeptide (PP). Early secretion after sham feeding has been validated as a marker of vagal integrity. Thus, the aim was to evaluate the ratio of increased PP plasma levels after sham feeding in PD and correlate findings with gastrointestinal transit time (GITT). METHODS Twenty-five PD patients and 17 controls were included. PP, insulin, and blood glucose levels were measured before, during, and after sham feeding with white bread and chocolate spread. GITT was measured using radiopaque markers. Furthermore, faeces samples were analyzed for pancreatic elastase enzyme as a marker of exocrine pancreatic function. RESULTS PD patients showed significantly lower PP ratio levels after sham feeding, which was most pronounced at 10 minutes. No significant association was seen between attenuated PP response and GITT in PD patients. No between-group differences were seen in glucose or insulin levels over time, but PD patients showed generally lower insulin levels compared to controls. No difference was found in faeces pancreatic elastase. CONCLUSIONS Early-to-moderate stage PD patients demonstrated significantly decreased PP response after sham feeding suggestive of vagal denervation.

Keywords: sham feeding; pancreatic polypeptide; denervation; marker; parkinson disease

Journal Title: Journal of Parkinson's disease
Year Published: 2017

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.