Clinical Study About Assessment Of á-synuclein In Minor Salivary Gland Of Patients With Early Stage Parkinson's Disease

ObjectiveConduct labial minor salivary gland biopsy in patients withearly stage Parkinson's disease,to detect abnormal á-synuclein accumulations with immunohistochemical staining,to identify whether detect the LTS(Lewy-type á-synuclein)by immunohistochemically staining could be a potential convenient,safe and sensitive approach to detect the neuropathological hallmarkers of PD and to diagnose the prodromal PD.MethodsThis case-control study enrolled 42 patients with early stage PD and 14 age-matched controls from Jiangsu province of China.All the patients were consecutively recruited from the Department of Neurology of The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University between September 2014 and July 2016.Collected the clinical data of patients with PD including Hoehn-Yahr classification rating scale,the UPDRS-III score and Mini-mental State Examination.Obtain minor salivary gland specimens in the lower lips according to standard procedures,detecting the abnormal á-synuclein accumulations by immunohistochemical staining through a novel monoclonal antibody.ResultsA total of 42 PD patients(21 males)and 14 controls(8 males)were recruited in the case-control study.The average age of the patients was 62.71±11.39 years,and the average duration of the disease was 54.86±39.02 months.The average age of the controls was 58.91±11.59 years.One patient was excluded because there were no glands or nerve fibers could be detected in the tissue.Among them,31 of the 41 PD patients(75.61%)have LTS,while none of the 14 controls has it.ConclusionPathological changes of peripheral nervous system have been observed in patients with PD at early stage.Our results showed that labial minor gland biopsy,with detecting the LTS by immunohistochemically staining,could be a potential convenient,safe and sensitive approach to detect the neuropathological hallmarkers of PD and to diagnose the prodromal PD in the future.