Decreased α-synuclein in cerebrospinal fluid of aged individuals and subjects with Parkinson’s disease

Abstract There is ample biochemical, pathological, and genetic evidence that the metabolism of α-synuclein (α-syn) plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease (PD). To examine whether quantification of α-syn in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is potentially informative in the diagnosis of PD, we developed a specific ELISA system and measured the concentration of α-syn in CSF from 33 patients with PD (diagnosed according to UK PD Society Brain Bank criteria) and 38 control subjects including 9 neurologically healthy individuals. We found that PD patients had significantly lower α-syn levels in their CSF than the control groups ( p c  = 0.882). Furthermore, we observed a close inverse correlation between α-syn levels in CSF and assigned Hoehn and Yahr score in this cohort of 71 living subjects ( p