N-Acetyl Cysteine Is Associated With Dopaminergic Improvement in Parkinson's Disease.

Authors

• Daniel A Monti
• George Zabrecky
• Daniel Kremens
• Tsao-Wei Liang
• Nancy A Wintering
• Anthony J Bazzan
• Li Zhong
• Brendan K Bowens
• Inna Chervoneva
• Charles Intenzo
• Andrew B Newberg

Publication/Presentation Date

10-1-2019

Abstract

This study assessed the biological and clinical effects in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) of N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC), the prodrug to l-cysteine, a precursor to the natural biological antioxidant glutathione. Forty-two patients with PD were randomized to either weekly intravenous infusions of NAC (50 mg/kg) plus oral doses (500 mg twice per day) for 3 months or standard of care only. Participants received prebrain and postbrain imaging with ioflupane (DaTscan) to measure dopamine transporter (DAT) binding. In the NAC group, significantly increased DAT binding was found in the caudate and putamen (mean increase from 3.4% to 8.3%) compared with controls (P <  0.05), along with significantly improved PD symptoms (P <  0.0001). The results suggest NAC may positively affect the dopaminergic system in patients with PD, with corresponding positive clinical effects. Larger scale studies are warranted.

Volume

106

Issue

4

First Page

884

Last Page

890

ISSN

1532-6535

Published In/Presented At

Monti, D. A., Zabrecky, G., Kremens, D., Liang, T. W., Wintering, N. A., Bazzan, A. J., Zhong, L., Bowens, B. K., Chervoneva, I., Intenzo, C., & Newberg, A. B. (2019). N-Acetyl Cysteine Is Associated With Dopaminergic Improvement in Parkinson's Disease. Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, 106(4), 884–890. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpt.1548

Disciplines

Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Health and Medical Administration | Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods

PubMedID

31206613

Department(s)

Administration and Leadership

Document Type

Article