TY - THES A1 - Kreß, Luisa Sophia T1 - Determination of cytokine and axon guidance molecule profiles in patients with small fiber neuropathy T1 - Bestimmung von Zytokin- und Axon Guidance Molekül-Profilen bei Patienten mit Kleinfaserneuropathie N2 - The pathophysiological mechanisms of pain in small fiber neuropathy (SFN) are unclear. Based on experimental and clinical studies, sensitized nociceptors in the skin are reported to be involved in pain development. These nociceptors may be sensitized by cutaneous and systemic pain mediators e.g. pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. The aim of our study was, to measure the systemic and local gene expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in white blood cells (WBC) as well as in primary fibroblasts and keratinocytes obtained from human skin of patients with SFN. Furthermore, gene expression levels of axon guidance molecules and their receptors, as potential regulators of the intraepidermal nerve fiber density (IENFD), were investigated. 55 patients and 31 healthy controls were prospectively recruited. Participants underwent extensive clinical phenotyping and blood sampling, 6-mm skin punch biopsies were taken from the right lateral calf and the upper thigh. Systemic relative gene expression levels (ΔG) of the interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) was measured in WBC. Skin punch biopsies were taken to determine the IENFD and to obtain primary fibroblast and keratinocyte cell cultures. Skin cells were then used for investigation of ΔG in axon guidance molecules netrin 1 (NTN1) and ephrin A4 (EPHA4) as well as their receptors Unc5b receptor, and ephrin A4 (EFNA4) as well as cytokines IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF, and transforming growth factor (TGF). Systemically, gene expression of IL-2, IL-8, and TNF was higher in SFN patients compared to healthy controls. In keratinocytes, higher expression levels of NTN1 and TGF were found when comparing the SFN patients to the controls. In fibroblasts higher gene expression was shown in NTN1, Unc5b, IL-6, and IL-8 when comparing patients to healthy controls. The systemically and local elevated levels of pro-inflammatory, algesic cytokines in SFN patients compared to healthy controls, confirms a potential pathophysiological role in the development of neuropathic pain. Data also indicate fibroblasts and keratinocytes to influence subepidermal and intraepidermal nerve fiber growth through the expression of NTN1 and Unc5b. Thus, skin cells may contribute to the development of neuropathic pain through local denervation. N2 - Der Pathomechanismus von Schmerz bei Small fiber Neuropathie (SFN) ist unklar. Auf Grundlage tierexperimenteller und klinischer Studien wird die Einwirkung kutaner und systemischer Schmerzmediatoren auf sensibilisierte Nozizeptoren in der Haut als mögliche Ursache diskutiert. In diesem Zusammenhang gab es Hinweise auf die Bedeutung von pro- und anti-inflammatorischen Zytokinen in der Pathophysiologie neuropathischer Schmerzen. Ziel der Studie war es, die systemische und lokale Genexpression pro- und anti-inflammatorischer Zytokine in Leukozyten sowie kutanen Fibroblasten und Keratinozyten von Patienten mit SFN zu messen. Ferner wurde untersucht, inwieweit die Expression repellierender Axon Guidance Moleküle und ihrer Rezeptoren in Hautzellen die intraepidermale Nervenfaserdichte (IENFD) regulieren könnte. Insgesamt konnten 55 SFN PatientInnen und 31 gesunde KontrollprobandInnen prospektiv rekrutiert werden. Nach ausführlicher klinischer Phänotypisierung und Blutentnahme wurden bei allen StudienteilnehmerInnen 6-mm Hautstanzbiopsien am lateralen Unter- und Oberschenkel entnommen. Die Messung der systemisch relativen Genexpression (ΔG) der Zytokine Interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8 und des tumor necrose factors (TNF) erfolgte aus Leukozyten. Aus den Hautstanzbiopsien, die u.a. zur Bestimmung der IENFD verwendet wurden, wurden außerdem Primärzellkulturen von Keratinozyten und Fibroblasten angelegt, aus denen die lokale ΔG von Axon Guidance Molekülen Netrin 1 (NTN1) und Ephrin A4 (EPHA4), deren Rezeptoren Unc5b, und Ephrin A4 receptor (EFNA4) sowie der Zytokine IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF und des transforming growth factors (TGF) erfolgte. Systemisch zeigte sich eine höhere Genexpression für IL-2, IL-8 und TNF bei SFN Patienten im Vergleich zu gesunden Kontrollen. In Keratinozyten konnten höhere Expressionen von NTN1 und TGF-β1 bei Vergleich der Patientengruppe mit der Kontrollgruppe nachgewiesen werden. In Fibroblasten zeigte sich im Gruppenvergleich eine höhere Genexpression für NTN1, Unc5b sowie für IL-6 und IL-8. Die systemisch und lokal bei SFN Patienten nachgewiesene höhere Expression algetischer, pro-inflammatorischer Zytokine verglichen mit Kontrollen unterstützt eine mögliche pathophysiologische Rolle bei der Entstehung von neuropathischen Schmerzen. Ferner weisen die Daten darauf hin, dass Fibroblasten und Keratinozyten durch die Expression von NTN1 und Unc5b Einfluss auf das subepidermale und intraepidermale Nervenfaserwachstum nehmen und durch lokale Denervierung bei der Entstehung neuropathischer Schmerzen mitwirken könnten. KW - Neuropathischer Schmerz KW - Pathomechanismus KW - Cytokine KW - small fiber neuropathy KW - axon guidance molecules KW - pathophysilogical mechanisms KW - cytokines KW - skin cells Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-209113 ER - TY - THES A1 - Wind, Teresa Elisabeth T1 - Einfluss von Alter und Polyneuropathie auf zeitliche Wahrnehmungsschwellen somatosensorischer und kinästhetischer Stimuli und propriozeptive Leistungsfähigkeit T1 - Temporal Discrimination Thresholds and Proprioceptive Performance: Impact of Age and Nerve Conduction N2 - Zeitliche Diskrimination somatosensorischer und kinästhetischer Stimuli wurde als neurophysiologisches Korrelat für propriozeptive Präzision postuliert und bei verschiedenen Bewegungsstörungen als pathologisch beschrieben. Ziel der Untersuchung war es, den Einfluss von Alter und Polyneuropathie auf die kinästhetische (TDMT) und taktile (STDT) zeitliche Wahrnehmungsschwelle sowie die propriozeptive Genauigkeit bei Zeigeversuchen systematisch zu untersuchen. Hierfür wurden 54 gesunde Probanden und 25 Polyneuropathie-Patienten im Alter zwischen 30 und 76 Jahren untersucht. Die STDT-Messung erfolgte mit Oberflächenelektroden, die an der Zeigefingerspitze bzw. am Großzehengrundgelenk angebracht wurden. Die TDMT-Werte wurden mit Hilfe einer sterilen Nadelelektrode erfasst, welche in den Musculus flexor carpi radialis bzw. Musculus tibialis anterior inseriert wurde. Die Daten zur Propriozeption wurden mit Hilfe eines Goniometers erhoben und beinhalteten dabei aktive Zeigeaufgaben (Zeigen auf eine LED, Nachahmung einer Bewegung anhand einer auf einem Computerbildschirm dargebotenen PFEIL-Darstellung unterschiedlicher Länge) und die Einschätzung der Position der jeweiligen Extremität nach passiver Bewegung (PASSIV). Die Messungen erfolgten jeweils ohne visuelle Rückmeldung. Die Zeigefehler (Abweichung von der Zielposition) bzw. Schätzfehler (Abweichung der geschätzten von der tatsächlichen Position nach passiver Auslenkung) wurden als Maß der propriozeptiven Präzision verwendet. Die Ergebnisse der gesunden Probandengruppe zeigten, dass höheres Alter mit höheren STDT- und TDMT-Werten korrelierte. Die Polyneuropathie-Patienten erzielten in allen Bereichen (Diskriminationsschwellen und Propriozeptionsaufgaben) signifikant schlechtere Ergebnisse als die gesunde Kontrollgruppe. Zusätzlich konnte eine statistisch signifikante positive Korrelation zwischen der propriozeptiven Präzision bei den aktiven Zeige-Aufgaben (LED und PFEIL) und den zeitlichen Diskriminationsschwellen (STDT und TDMT) gezeigt werden. In Anbetracht dieser Ergebnisse sollten das Patienten-Alter und mögliche Störungen der peripheren Nervenleitung berücksichtigt werden, wenn STDT-und TDMT-Bestimmungen bei Patienten mit Bewegungsstörungen angewendet werden. Die Korrelation zwischen den Diskriminationsschwellen und der Performance bei aktiven Zeigeversuchen (PFEIL- und LED-Aufgabe) legt nahe, dass STDT und TDMT Indikatoren der propriozeptiven Funktion sein könnten. Es ist weitere Forschungsarbeit notwendig, um diese Beziehung exakt zu beleuchten. Im Falle einer Bestätigung der Befunde auch bei Patienten mit Bewegungsstörungen erscheint denkbar, dass sich STDT und TDMT als vergleichsweise leicht messbare und gut quantifizierbare Parameter der Propriozeption herausstellen mit Potenzial zur differenzialdiagnostischen Anwendung, möglicherweise aber auch als Surrogatparameter einer gezielten rehabilitativen Behandlung. N2 - Objective: To assess the association of somatosensorytemporal discriminationthreshold (STDT) and temporal movement discrimination threshold (TDMT) with age and proprioception. Methods: STDT and TDMT were assessed in 54 healthy subjects aged 30 to 76 yearsand 25 patients with PNP. STDT was tested with surface electrodes placed over the thenar or dorsal foot region. TDMT was probed with needle electrodes in flexor carpiradialis and tibialis anterior muscle. Limb proprioception was assessed by active pointing tasks and by limb position estimation with goniometer-based devices.Pointing (or estimation) error was taken as a measure of proprioceptive performance. Results: Higher age was associated with higher STDT and TDMT, while age did not correlate with proprioceptive performance. In PNP patients,STDT, TDMT and active proprioceptive Peformance were worse at all sites as compared to controls. In Addition,proprioceptive performance in the active pointing task correlated with STDT and TDMT of upper extremities. Conclusions: Temporal discrimination thresholds may prove useful as surrogatemarkers of proprioceptive function. PNP-related impairment of afferent conduction shows high impact on STDT and TDMT. Significance: Comparable modulation of STDT and TDMT by age and peripheral neuropathy may support the notion that their differential changes in movement disorders may result from disease-specific modifications of central networks. KW - Propriozeption KW - Alter KW - Polyneuropathie KW - zeitliche Wahrnehmungsschwellen KW - STDT KW - TDMT KW - Temporal Discrimination Threshold KW - Proprioception KW - Polyneuropathy KW - Age Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-208047 ER - TY - THES A1 - Emmerich, Christoph T1 - Die Rolle der clathrin- und dynaminabhängigen Endozytose bei der Internalisation von anti-Amphiphysin-Autoantikörpern im Falle des Stiff-Person-Syndroms, untersucht am Zellkulturmodell hippocampaler Neurone T1 - The role of clathrin- and dynamin dependent endocytosis in internalisation of anti-amphiphysin-autoantibodies in case of Stiff-Person-Syndrom N2 - In dieser Arbeit wurde mit Hilfe von small-molecule Inhibitoren die Rolle von clathrin- und dynaminabhängigen Endozytosemechanismen bei der Aufnahme von anti-Amphiphysin-Autoantikörpern am Zellkulturmodell primärer hippocampaler Neurone untersucht. Hierbei konnte eine Beeinflussung der Autoaantikörperaufnahme durch die Intervention gezeigt werden. Außerdem erfolgte der Versuch der Etablierung eines siRNA knockdowns unter Zuhilfenahme unterschiedlicher Traansfektionsreaaagenzien. N2 - This thesis investigated the role of clathrin and dynamin dependent endocytosis in internalisation of anti-amphiphysin-autoantibodies in primary mouse hippocampal neurons by using small molecule inhibitors. An influence in the uptake due to small molecule treatment can be shown. Furthermore an attempt of siRNA knockdown establishment was performed using different transfection reagents. KW - siRNA KW - small molecule KW - Stiff-Person-Syndrom KW - anti-Amphiphysin Antikörper KW - siRNA KW - small-molecule Inhibitoren KW - Stiff-Person-Syndrom KW - anti-amphiphysin antibodies KW - small-molecule inhibitors Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-209360 ER - TY - THES A1 - Brandt, Gregor A. T1 - Gait Initiation in Parkinson's Disease: The Interplay of Dopamine and Postural Control T1 - Der erste Schritt bei M. Parkinson: Der Zusammenhang zwischen Dopamin und posturaler Kontrolle N2 - Deterioration of gait and alterations of physiological gait initiation contribute significantly to the burden of disease in Parkinson's disease. This paper systematically investigates disease-specific alterations during the postural phases of gait initiation and demonstrates the influence of dopaminergic networks by assessing levodopa mediated improvements in motor performance and correlation of motor behavior with loss of striatal and cortical dopaminergic neurons. Particular attention is given to known confounders such as initial stance and anthropometrics. N2 - Störungen des Gangbildes und Veränderungen der physiologischen Bewegungsabläufe während des ersten Schrittes tragen einen signifikanten Teil zur Krankheitslast der Parkinsonerkrankung bei. Diese Veröffentlichung untersucht systematisch die krankheitsspezifischen Veränderungen der posturalen Phase des ersten Schrittes und demonstriert den Einfluss dopaminerger Netzwerke durch Untersuchungen Levodopa-induzierter Verbesserungen des Bewegungsablaufs und Korrelationen des Bewegungsverhaltens mit dem Verlust striataler und kortikaler dopaminerger Neuronen. Besondere Sorgfalt wurde bekannten modifizierenden Faktoren wie initaler Standbreite und anthropometrischen Größen zu Teil. KW - Parkinson-Krankheit KW - Parkinson's Disease KW - Gait initiation KW - Motor Control KW - Dopamine Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-214636 ER - TY - THES A1 - Purrer, Veronika T1 - Nicht-motorische Begleitsymptome bei Patienten mit Essentiellen Tremor T1 - Non-motor symptoms in patients with essential tremor N2 - Der essentielle Tremor (ET) ist eine der häufigsten Bewegungsstörungen, welcher lange Zeit als rein motorische Störung angesehen wurde. Aufgrund zunehmender Belege über nicht-motorisch Begleitsymptome wandelte sich dieses Bild jedoch in den letzten Jahren zunehmend. In der vorliegenden Arbeit untersuchten wir 113 Probanden aus der Allgemeinbevölkerung mit klinisch definitiven oder wahrscheinlichen ET anhand einer breiten Batterie neuro-psychologischer Testverfahren. Es gelang hierbei signifikante Unterschiede im Vergleich zu gesunden Eichstichproben im Hinblick auf neuro-psychologische Charakteristika, wie Apathie, Ängstlichkeit und exekutive Dysfunktion, sowie deren negativen Einfluss auf die Lebensqualität der Probanden darzustellen. Bisher werden im klinischen Alltag nicht-motorische Begleitphänomene beim ET nicht regelhaft erfasst; aufgrund unserer Ergebnisse und der Relevanz vor allem im Hinblick auf die Lebensqualität des Einzelnen halten wir jedoch die Erfassung und gegebenenfalls Behandlung dieser Symptome für ebenso relevant. N2 - Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most common movement disorders, which was previously considered a purely motor disorder. Due to increasing evidence of non-motor symptoms, however, this picture has changed recently. In the present study we investigated 113 subjects from the general population with clinically definite or probable ET using a broad battery of neuro-psychological screening tools. Thereby, significant differences in neuro-psychological characteristics, such as apathy, anxiety and executive dysfunction, as well as their negative impact on the quality of life of the subjects could be demonstrated in comparison to healthy samples. Up to now, non-motor symptoms in ET are generally not been recorded in the clinical routine; however, based on our findings and the relevance to the individual's quality of life in particular, we consider the assessment and, where appropriate, treatment of these symptoms to be equally relevant. KW - Essentieller Tremor KW - Nicht-motorische Begleitsymptome KW - ET Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-193665 ER - TY - THES A1 - Hirschmann, Anna T1 - microRNA-Genexpressionsprofile in Blut-, Haut- und Nervenproben von Patienten mit Polyneuropathien T1 - microRNA gene expression profiles in blood, skin and nerve samples of patients with polyneuropathy N2 - Die Polyneuropathie (PNP) ist die häufigste Störung des peripheren Nervensystems bei Erwachsenen. Die Suche nach der Ursache bleibt in vielen Fällen erfolglos, ist aber unverzichtbar, da die Therapiewahl von der Ätiologie der Erkrankung abhängt. Geeignete Biomarker könnten die Differentialdiagnose unter Umständen erleichtern. microRNAs (miRNAs) sind in dieser Hinsicht vielversprechend, da in vielen Studien bei Nervende- und regenerationsprozessen sowie in neuropathischen Schmerzmodellen eine Dysregulation beschrieben wurde. In dieser Studie wurde die Expression zweier miRNAs, miR-103a und miR-let-7d, sowie eines Zielmoleküls der miR-103a, des Kalziumkanals Cav1,2, in einer großen Kohorte von PNP-Patienten unterschiedlicher Ätiologie in Blut, Haut- und Nervenbiopsien untersucht. Insgesamt wurden 116 Patienten und 22 Kontroll-probanden in die Studie eingeschlossen. Nach der Isolation von RNA aus weißen Blutzellen (WBC), Haut- und Nervenbiopsien folgte die Expressionsbestimmung mittels qRT-PCR. Während sich jeweils Unterschiede zwischen PNP-Patienten und Kontrollen und zwischen Patienten mit entzündlicher und solchen mit nicht-entzündlicher PNP zeigten, wurden keine Unterschiede in der Expression zwischen den ätiologischen Subgruppen oder zwischen Patienten mit schmerzhafter und schmerzloser PNP festgestellt. In den Nervenbiopsien der Patientenkohorte ergab sich eine inverse Korrelation der miR-103a und ihrem Zielgen Cacna1c, die darauf hinweisen könnte, dass Cacna1c von der miR-103a negativ reguliert wird. Da in unserer Patientenkohorte keine Unterschiede zwischen den PNP-Subgruppen auftraten, scheint der Einsatz der miR-103a und miR-let-7d als diagnostische Biomarker zur ätiologischen Einordnung einer PNP nicht gerechtfertigt. Dennoch deuten unsere Ergebnisse auf eine mögliche Rolle der untersuchten miRNAs bei Entstehung und Verlauf von PNP hin. Für ein tieferes pathophysiologisches Verständnis der miRNAs vor allem bei entzündlichen Neuropathien, könnte die Untersuchung von weiteren miRNAs und Zielgenen Aufschluss geben. N2 - Polyneuropathies (PNP) are the most frequent disorder of the peripheral nervous system in adults. Since the choice of therapy depends on it, the etiological diagnostic is essential but often remains without results so far. The differential diagnosis could be facilitated by a suitable biomarker. In this respect, microRNA (miRNA) are promising because their dysregulation has been described in processes of nerve degeneration and regeneration as well as in neuropathic pain models. This study investigated the expression of two miRNA, miR-103a and miR-let-7d, and the calcium channel Cav1.2, a target of miR-103a, in a large cohort of PNP patients with different etiology in blood, skin and nerve samples. Altogether, 116 patients and 22 controls have been included in the study. Expressional analysis via qRT-PCR succeeded the isolation of RNA out of white blood cells (WBC), skin and nerve biopsies. Differences have been found between PNP patients and controls and between patients with inflammatory and non-inflammatory PNP. No differences have been recorded between the etiological subgroups or between painful and painless PNP. miR-103a and its target Cacna1c correlated inversely in nerve which could be an indication for Cacna1c being negatively regulated by miR-103a. miR-103a and miR-let-7d do not seem to be appropriate diagnostic biomarkers for the etiological classification of PNP as there have not been found any differences between the PNP subgroups. Nevertheless, our results suggest that miRNA may play a part in the development and the progression of PNP. The investigation of further miRNA and targets could provide insight into a deeper pathophysiological understanding of miRNA, especially in inflammatory neuropathies. KW - miRNS KW - Polyneuropathie KW - Genexpression KW - microRNA KW - miRNA KW - PNP KW - Neuropathischer Schmerz KW - neuropathic pain KW - gene expression Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-217010 ER - TY - THES A1 - Pozzi, Nicoló Gabriele T1 - Parkinson’s disease revisited: multiple circuitopathies T1 - Neuinterpretation des Morbus Parkinson als multiple Netzwerkerkrankung N2 - Parkinson’s disease (PD) is among the most common neurodegenerative conditions, and it is characterized by the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons and a great variability in clinical expression. Despite several effective medications, it still causes disability as all patients show treatment-resistant symptoms and complications. A possible reason for this therapeutic-burden and great clinical variability lies in a probable misconception about its pathophysiology, one that focuses on neurodegeneration, while largely neglecting its functional consequences and the related compensatory changes. In this thesis, I expand on the hypothesis that some PD symptoms have a dysfunctional origin and reflect derangements of neural network dynamics, the means by which brain coordination supports any motor behaviour. In particular, I have investigated resting tremor and freezing of gait, two common symptoms with an enigmatic mechanism and suboptimal management. In the case of tremor, I predicted a pathological change in response to dopamine loss, which included the activation of noradrenergic (NA) neurons of the locus coeruleus (LC) projecting to the cerebellum. This compensatory LC activation that supports dopaminergic neurons might indeed come at the expense of tremor development. To assess the role of LC-NA in tremor development, I recorded tremor occurrence in the reserpinized rat model of PD, one of very few showing tremor, after selective lesioning (with the neurotoxin DSP-4) of the LC-NA terminal axons. DSP-4 induced a severe reduction of LC-NA terminal axons in the cerebellar cortex and this was associated with a significant reduction in tremor development. Unlike its development, tremor frequency and the akinetic rigid signs did not differ between the groups, thus suggesting a dopaminergic dependency. These findings suggest that the LC-NA innervation of the cerebellum has a critical role for PD tremor, possibly by exerting a network effect, which gates the cerebello-thalamic-cortical circuit into pathological oscillations upon a dopaminergic loss in the basal ganglia. In contrast, for the study of freezing of gait, I worked with human PD subjects and deep brain stimulation, a therapeutic neuromodulation device that in some prototypes also allows the recording of neural activity in freely-moving subjects. Gait freezing is a disabling PD symptom that suddenly impairs effective stepping, thus causing falls and disability. Also in this study, I hypothesized that the underlying pathophysiology may be represented by dysfunctional neural network dynamics that abruptly impair locomotor control by affecting the communication in the supraspinal locomotor network. To test this hypothesis, I investigated the coupling between the cortex and the subthalamic nucleus, two main nodes of the supraspinal locomotor network, in freely-moving subjects PD patients and also performed molecular brain imaging of striatal dopamine receptor density and kinematic measurements. I found that in PD patients, walking is associated with cortical-subthalamic stable coupling in a low-frequency band (i.e. θ-α rhythms). In contrast, these structures decoupled when gait freezing occurred in the brain hemisphere with less dopaminergic innervation. These findings suggest that freezing of gait is a “circuitopathy”, with dysfunctional cortical-subcortical communication. Altogether the results of my experiments support the hypothesis that the pathophysiology of PD goes beyond neurodegenerative (loss-of-function) processes and that derangement of neural network dynamics coincides with some disabling PD symptoms, thus suggesting that PD can be interpreted as the combination of multiple circuitopathies. N2 - Die Parkinson-Krankheit ist eine neurodegenerative Erkrankung mit einem progressiven Verlust dopaminerger Neurone, die trotz wirksamer Medikamente zur Einschränkung in der Lebensqualität führen kann. Eine mögliche Ursache für diese unzureichende Behandlung der Symptome liegt in einem möglichen Missverständnis über die Pathophysiologie der Krankheit, die sich auf die Neurodegeneration konzentriert. Bei der Parkinson-Krankheit können jedoch funktionelle Veränderungen aufgrund der Neurodegeneration sowie die damit verbundenen kompensatorischen Modifikationen sehr wichtig sein. Der Fokus meiner Dissertation liegt in der Bearbeitung der Hypothese, dass einige Symptome der Parkinson-Krankheit einen dysfunktionellen Ursprung haben können. Insbesodere habe ich den Ruhetremor und das Freezing-Phänomen, das eine Blockade des Gehens bedeutet, untersucht, um zu erklären, ob ein Störung der neuronalen Netzwerkdynamik diese Symptome verursachen kann. In dieser Arbeit wurde zuerst die Entwicklung des Ruhetremors bei der Parkinson-Krankheit untersucht. Meine Hypothese war, dass eine Aktivierung von projizierenden noradrenergen Fasern des Locus-Coeruleus zum Cerebellum das Auftreten des Tremors verursachen kann, welches durch den Verlust dopaminerger Neurone verursacht wird. Da die Aktivität des Locus-Coeruleus bei Patienten mit Parkisnon-Krankheit nicht messbar ist, wurde dies in einem Parkinson-Rattenmodell untersucht. Die Ratten wurden etweder mit Reserpin oder mit Reserpine plus eine Neurotoxin gegen noradrenerger Neuronen (DSP-4) behandelt. Diese Behandlung mit DSP-4 führte zur Degeneration noradrenerger Terminalen im Locus-Coeruleus. Das Auftreten von Tremor zwischen die beiden Gruppen von Ratten war unterschiedlich. Insbesondere entwickelten DSP-4 behandelte Ratten einen niedrigen Ruhetremor. Dieses Ergebnis deutet darauf hin, dass die noradrenerge Innervation des Cerebellums vom Locus-Ceruleus für das Auftreten des Ruhetremors eine große Rolle spielt. In der Frequenz des Tremors sowie in den akinetischen Symptomen konnte kein Unterschied zwischen den Gruppen festgestellt werden. Das zeigt, dass diese akinetischen Symptome vom Dopaminverlust abhängig sind. Die Kombination von Tremor und akinetischen Symptomen kann aufgrund eines patologischen Netzwerkeffekts entstehen, welche vom Verlust dopaminerger Neurone in den Basalganglien im Zusammenspiel mit der kompensatorischen Aktivierung noradrenerger Neurone des Locus-Coeruleus verursacht werden kann. Des Weiteren wurde der Ursprung des Freezing-Phänomens bei Patienten, die an der Parkinson-Krankheit leiden und eine therapeutische Behandlung mittels Tiefer Hirnstimulation (THS) bekommen haben, untersucht. Insbesodere konnten mittels neuer THS-Prototypen Messungen neuronaler Aktivität von Bewegungen durchgeführt werden. In dieser Studie stellte ich die Hypothese auf, dass die Pathophysiologie des Freezings durch eine fehlerhafte neuronale Dynamik der Bewegungsnetzwerke erklärt werden kann. Um dies zu testen, wurde die Kommunikation zwischen den zwei Hauptknoten des Bewegungsnetzwerkes, dem Kortex und dem Nucleus Subthalamicus, bei THS behandelten Parkinson-Patienten während des Gehens und den Freezing-Episoden untersucht. Zudem wurde bei diesen Patienten eine molekulare Darstellung der dopaminergen Rezeptoren in den Basalganglien durchgeführt. Zusätzlich wurden kinematischen Messungen der Bewegungen vorgenommen, die eine präzise Beschreibung des Freezings ermöglichen. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass bei Patienten mit der Parkinson-Krankheit ein Zusammenhang von stabiler Kommunikation zwischen dem Kortex und dem Nucleus Subthalamicus bei einer bestimten Frequenz (d.h. θ-α-Rhythmen) beim Gehen besteht. Beim Auftreten des Freezing-Phänomens konnte diese Kommunikation in der Gehirnhemisphäre mit weniger dopaminerger Innervation nicht mehr nachgewiesen werden. Diese Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass das Freezing-Phänomen eine „Circuitopathie“ ist, in der eine fehlerhafte Kommunikation zwischen kortikalen und subkortikalen Arealen zur Bewegungsblockade führen kann. Insgesamt stützen die Ergebnisse meiner Experimente die Hypothese, dass die Pathophysiologie der Parkinson-Krankheit sowohl über neurodegenerative Prozesse (Zellverlust) als auch über Störungen der neuronalen Netzwerkdynamik (Funktionsverlust) hinausgeht. Das deutet darauf hin, dass die Parkison-Krankheit als „Circuitopathie“ interpretiert werden kann. KW - Parkinson-Krankheit KW - freezing of gait KW - resting tremor KW - circuitopathies Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-216715 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Briese, Michael A1 - Saal-Bauernschubert, Lena A1 - Lüningschrör, Patrick A1 - Moradi, Mehri A1 - Dombert, Benjamin A1 - Surrey, Verena A1 - Appenzeller, Silke A1 - Deng, Chunchu A1 - Jablonka, Sibylle A1 - Sendtner, Michael T1 - Loss of Tdp-43 disrupts the axonal transcriptome of motoneurons accompanied by impaired axonal translation and mitochondria function JF - Acta Neuropathologica Communications N2 - Protein inclusions containing the RNA-binding protein TDP-43 are a pathological hallmark of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neurodegenerative disorders. The loss of TDP-43 function that is associated with these inclusions affects post-transcriptional processing of RNAs in multiple ways including pre-mRNA splicing, nucleocytoplasmic transport, modulation of mRNA stability and translation. In contrast, less is known about the role of TDP-43 in axonal RNA metabolism in motoneurons. Here we show that depletion of Tdp-43 in primary motoneurons affects axon growth. This defect is accompanied by subcellular transcriptome alterations in the axonal and somatodendritic compartment. The axonal localization of transcripts encoding components of the cytoskeleton, the translational machinery and transcripts involved in mitochondrial energy metabolism were particularly affected by loss of Tdp-43. Accordingly, we observed reduced protein synthesis and disturbed mitochondrial functions in axons of Tdp-43-depleted motoneurons. Treatment with nicotinamide rescued the axon growth defect associated with loss of Tdp-43. These results show that Tdp-43 depletion in motoneurons affects several pathways integral to axon health indicating that loss of TDP-43 function could thus make a major contribution to axonal pathomechanisms in ALS. KW - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis KW - Tdp-43 KW - axonal transcriptome KW - nicotinamide Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230322 VL - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rauschenberger, Vera A1 - von Wardenburg, Niels A1 - Schaefer, Natascha A1 - Ogino, Kazutoyo A1 - Hirata, Hiromi A1 - Lillesaar, Christina A1 - Kluck, Christoph J. A1 - Meinck, Hans‐Michael A1 - Borrmann, Marc A1 - Weishaupt, Andreas A1 - Doppler, Kathrin A1 - Wickel, Jonathan A1 - Geis, Christian A1 - Sommer, Claudia A1 - Villmann, Carmen T1 - Glycine Receptor Autoantibodies Impair Receptor Function and Induce Motor Dysfunction JF - Annals of Neurology N2 - Objective Impairment of glycinergic neurotransmission leads to complex movement and behavioral disorders. Patients harboring glycine receptor autoantibodies suffer from stiff‐person syndrome or its severe variant progressive encephalomyelitis with rigidity and myoclonus. Enhanced receptor internalization was proposed as the common molecular mechanism upon autoantibody binding. Although functional impairment of glycine receptors following autoantibody binding has recently been investigated, it is still incompletely understood. Methods A cell‐based assay was used for positive sample evaluation. Glycine receptor function was assessed by electrophysiological recordings and radioligand binding assays. The in vivo passive transfer of patient autoantibodies was done using the zebrafish animal model. Results Glycine receptor function as assessed by glycine dose–response curves showed significantly decreased glycine potency in the presence of patient sera. Upon binding of autoantibodies from 2 patients, a decreased fraction of desensitized receptors was observed, whereas closing of the ion channel remained fast. The glycine receptor N‐terminal residues \(^{29}\)A to \(^{62}\)G were mapped as a common epitope of glycine receptor autoantibodies. An in vivo transfer into the zebrafish animal model generated a phenotype with disturbed escape behavior accompanied by a reduced number of glycine receptor clusters in the spinal cord of affected animals. Interpretation Autoantibodies against the extracellular domain mediate alterations of glycine receptor physiology. Moreover, our in vivo data demonstrate that the autoantibodies are a direct cause of the disease, because the transfer of human glycine receptor autoantibodies to zebrafish larvae generated impaired escape behavior in the animal model compatible with abnormal startle response in stiff‐person syndrome or progressive encephalitis with rigidity and myoclonus patients. KW - glycine receptor autoantibodies KW - behavioral disorders KW - neurology Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-216005 VL - 88 IS - 3 SP - 544 EP - 561 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Üçeyler, Nurcan A1 - Buchholz, Hans-Georg A1 - Kewenig, Susanne A1 - Ament, Stephan-Johann A1 - Birklein, Frank A1 - Schreckenberger, Mathias A1 - Sommer, Claudia T1 - Cortical Binding Potential of Opioid Receptors in Patients With Fibromyalgia Syndrome and Reduced Systemic Interleukin-4 Levels – A Pilot Study JF - Frontiers in Neuroscience N2 - Objective: We investigated cerebral opioid receptor binding potential in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) using positron-emission-tomography (PET) and correlated our results with patients’ systemic interleukin-4 (IL-4) gene expression. Methods: In this pilot study, seven FMS patients (1 man, 6 women) agreed to participate in experimental PET scans. All patients underwent neurological examination, were investigated with questionnaires for pain, depression, and FMS symptoms. Additionally, blood for IL-4 gene expression analysis was withdrawn at two time points with a median latency of 1.3 years. Patients were investigated in a PET scanner using the opioid receptor ligand F-18-fluoro-ethyl-diprenorphine ([18F]FEDPN) and results were compared with laboratory normative values. Results: Neurological examination was normal in all FMS patients. Reduced opioid receptor binding was found in mid cingulate cortex compared to healthy controls (p < 0.005). Interestingly, three patients with high systemic IL-4 gene expression had increased opioid receptor binding in the fronto-basal cortex compared to those with low IL-4 gene expression (p < 0.005). Conclusion: Our data give further evidence for a reduction in cortical opioid receptor availability in FMS patients as another potential central nervous system contributor to pain in FMS. KW - fibromyalgia syndrome KW - PET KW - brain KW - opioid KW - IL-4 Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-204457 SN - 1662-453X VL - 14 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Flachenecker, Peter A1 - Bures, Anna Karoline A1 - Gawlik, Angeli A1 - Weiland, Ann-Christin A1 - Kuld, Sarah A1 - Gusowski, Klaus A1 - Streber, René A1 - Pfeifer, Klaus A1 - Tallner, Alexander T1 - Efficacy of an internet-based program to promote physical activity and exercise after inpatient rehabilitation in persons with multiple sclerosis: a randomized, single-blind, controlled study JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health N2 - Background: Multimodal rehabilitation improves fatigue and mobility in persons with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). Effects are transient and may be conserved by internet-based physical activity promotion programs. Objective: Evaluate the effects of internet-based physical activity and exercise promotion on fatigue, quality of life, and gait in PwMS after inpatient rehabilitation. Methods: PwMS (Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) ≤ 6.0, fatigue: Würzburg Fatigue Inventory for Multiple Sclerosis (WEIMuS) ≥ 32) were randomized into an intervention group (IG) or a control group (CG). After rehabilitation, IG received 3 months of internet-based physical activity promotion, while CG received no intervention. Primary outcome: self-reported fatigue (WEIMuS). Secondary outcomes: quality of life (Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale 29, MSIS-29), gait (2min/10m walking test, Tinetti score). Measurements: beginning (T0) and end (T1) of inpatient rehabilitation, 3 (T2) and 6 (T3) months afterwards. Results: 64 of 84 PwMS were analyzed (IG: 34, CG: 30). After rehabilitation, fatigue decreased in both groups. At T2 and T3, fatigue increased again in CG but was improved in IG (p < 0.001). MSIS-29 improved in both groups at T1 but remained improved at T2 and T3 only in IG. Gait improvements were more pronounced in IG at T2. Conclusions: The study provides Class II evidence that the effects of rehabilitation on fatigue, quality of life, and gait can be maintained for 3–6 months with an internet-based physical activity and exercise promotion program. KW - multiple sclerosis KW - rehabilitation KW - fatigue KW - quality of life KW - walking KW - physical activity KW - exercise KW - online systems KW - internet-based intervention KW - health behavior Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-207863 SN - 1660-4601 VL - 17 IS - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gabriel, Katharina M. A. A1 - Jírů-Hillmann, Steffi A1 - Kraft, Peter A1 - Selig, Udo A1 - Rücker, Victoria A1 - Mühler, Johannes A1 - Dötter, Klaus A1 - Keidel, Matthias A1 - Soda, Hassan A1 - Rascher, Alexandra A1 - Schneider, Rolf A1 - Pfau, Mathias A1 - Hoffmann, Roy A1 - Stenzel, Joachim A1 - Benghebrid, Mohamed A1 - Goebel, Tobias A1 - Doerck, Sebastian A1 - Kramer, Daniela A1 - Haeusler, Karl Georg A1 - Volkmann, Jens A1 - Heuschmann, Peter U. A1 - Fluri, Felix T1 - Two years' experience of implementing a comprehensive telemedical stroke network comprising in mainly rural region: the Transregional Network for Stroke Intervention with Telemedicine (TRANSIT-Stroke) JF - BMC Neurology N2 - Background Telemedicine improves the quality of acute stroke care in rural regions with limited access to specialized stroke care. We report the first 2 years' experience of implementing a comprehensive telemedical stroke network comprising all levels of stroke care in a defined region. Methods The TRANSIT-Stroke network covers a mainly rural region in north-western Bavaria (Germany). All hospitals providing acute stroke care in this region participate in TRANSIT-Stroke, including four hospitals with a supra-regional certified stroke unit (SU) care (level III), three of those providing teleconsultation to two hospitals with a regional certified SU (level II) and five hospitals without specialized SU care (level I). For a two-year-period (01/2015 to 12/2016), data of eight of these hospitals were available; 13 evidence-based quality indicators (QIs) related to processes during hospitalisation were evaluated quarterly and compared according to predefined target values between level-I- and level-II/III-hospitals. Results Overall, 7881 patients were included (mean age 74.6 years +/- 12.8; 48.4% female). In level-II/III-hospitals adherence of all QIs to predefined targets was high ab initio. In level-I-hospitals, three patterns of QI-development were observed: a) high adherence ab initio (31%), mainly in secondary stroke prevention; b) improvement over time (44%), predominantly related to stroke specific diagnosis and in-hospital organization; c) no clear time trends (25%). Overall, 10 out of 13 QIs reached predefined target values of quality of care at the end of the observation period. Conclusion The implementation of the comprehensive TRANSIT-Stroke network resulted in an improvement of quality of care in level-I-hospitals. KW - pilot project KW - care tempis KW - ischemic stroke KW - thrombolysis KW - areas KW - time KW - hospitals KW - mortality KW - outcomes KW - quality Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-229214 VL - 20 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brumberg, Joachim A1 - Schröter, Nils A1 - Blazhenets, Ganna A1 - Frings, Lars A1 - Volkmann, Jens A1 - Lapa, Constantin A1 - Jost, Wolfgang H. A1 - Isaias, Ioannis U. A1 - Meyer, Philipp T. T1 - Differential diagnosis of parkinsonism: a head-to-head comparison of FDG PET and MIBG scintigraphy JF - NPJ Parkinsons Disease N2 - [\(^{18}\)F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET and [\(^{123}\)I]metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scintigraphy may contribute to the differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative parkinsonism. To identify the superior method, we retrospectively evaluated 54 patients with suspected neurodegenerative parkinsonism, who were referred for FDG PET and MIBG scintigraphy. Two investigators visually assessed FDG PET scans using an ordinal 6-step score for disease-specific patterns of Lewy body diseases (LBD) or atypical parkinsonism (APS) and assigned the latter to the subgroups multiple system atrophy (MSA), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), or corticobasal syndrome. Regions-of-interest analysis on anterior planar MIBG images served to calculate the heart-to-mediastinum ratio. Movement disorder specialists blinded to imaging results established clinical follow-up diagnosis by means of guideline-derived case vignettes. Clinical follow-up (1.7 +/- 2.3 years) revealed the following diagnoses: n = 19 LBD (n = 17 Parkinson's disease [PD], n = 1 PD dementia, and n = 1 dementia with Lewy bodies), n = 31 APS (n = 28 MSA, n = 3 PSP), n = 3 non-neurodegenerative parkinsonism; n = 1 patient could not be diagnosed and was excluded. Receiver operating characteristic analyses for discriminating LBD vs. non-LBD revealed a larger area under the curve for FDG PET than for MIBG scintigraphy at statistical trend level for consensus rating (0.82 vs. 0.69, p = 0.06; significant for investigator #1: 0.83 vs. 0.69, p = 0.04). The analysis of PD vs. MSA showed a similar difference (0.82 vs. 0.69, p = 0.11; rater #1: 0.83 vs. 0.69, p = 0.07). Albeit the notable differences in diagnostic performance did not attain statistical significance, the authors consider this finding clinically relevant and suggest that FDG PET, which also allows for subgrouping of APS, should be preferred. KW - clinical diagnosis KW - F-18-FDG PET KW - disease KW - dementia KW - accuracy KW - stimulation KW - guidelines KW - criteria KW - brain KW - risk Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230675 VL - 6 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Farinelli, Veronica A1 - Palmisano, Chiara A1 - Marchese, Silvia Maria A1 - Strano, Camilla Mirella Maria A1 - D’Arrigo, Stefano A1 - Pantaleoni, Chiara A1 - Ardissone, Anna A1 - Nardocci, Nardo A1 - Esposti, Roberto A1 - Cavallari, Paolo T1 - Postural control in children with cerebellar ataxia JF - Applied Sciences N2 - Controlling posture, i.e., governing the ensemble of involuntary muscular activities that manage body equilibrium, represents a demanding function in which the cerebellum plays a key role. Postural activities are particularly important during gait initiation when passing from quiet standing to locomotion. Indeed, several studies used such motor task for evaluating pathological conditions, including cerebellar disorders. The linkage between cerebellum maturation and the development of postural control has received less attention. Therefore, we evaluated postural control during quiet standing and gait initiation in children affected by a slow progressive generalized cerebellar atrophy (SlowP) or non-progressive vermian hypoplasia (Joubert syndrome, NonP), compared to that of healthy children (H). Despite the similar clinical evaluation of motor impairments in NonP and SlowP, only SlowP showed a less stable quiet standing and a shorter and slower first step than H. Moreover, a descriptive analysis of lower limb and back muscle activities suggested a more severe timing disruption in SlowP. Such differences might stem from the extent of cerebellar damage. However, literature reports that during childhood, neural plasticity of intact brain areas could compensate for cerebellar agenesis. We thus proposed that the difference might stem from disease progression, which contrasts the consolidation of compensatory strategies. KW - children KW - gait initiation KW - postural control KW - generalized cerebellar atrophy KW - cerebellar vermis hypoplasia KW - progressive ataxia KW - compensatory strategies Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200692 SN - 2076-3417 VL - 10 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gómez-Fernández, Paloma A1 - Lopez de Lapuente Portilla, Aitzkoa A1 - Astobiza, Ianire A1 - Mena, Jorge A1 - Urtasun, Andoni A1 - Altmann, Vivian A1 - Matesanz, Fuencisla A1 - Otaegui, David A1 - Urcelay, Elena A1 - Antigüedad, Alfredo A1 - Malhotra, Sunny A1 - Montalban, Xavier A1 - Castillo-Triviño, Tamara A1 - Espino-Paisán, Laura A1 - Aktas, Orhan A1 - Buttmann, Mathias A1 - Chan, Andrew A1 - Fontaine, Bertrand A1 - Gourraud, Pierre-Antoine A1 - Hecker, Michael A1 - Hoffjan, Sabine A1 - Kubisch, Christian A1 - Kümpfel, Tania A1 - Luessi, Felix A1 - Zettl, Uwe K. A1 - Zipp, Frauke A1 - Alloza, Iraide A1 - Comabella, Manuel A1 - Lill, Christina M. A1 - Vandenbroeck, Koen T1 - The rare IL22RA2 signal peptide coding variant rs28385692 decreases secretion of IL-22BP isoform-1, -2 and -3 and is associated with risk for multiple sclerosis JF - Cells N2 - The IL22RA2 locus is associated with risk for multiple sclerosis (MS) but causative variants are yet to be determined. In a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) screen of this locus in a Basque population, rs28385692, a rare coding variant substituting Leu for Pro at position 16 emerged significantly (p = 0.02). This variant is located in the signal peptide (SP) shared by the three secreted protein isoforms produced by IL22RA2 (IL-22 binding protein-1(IL-22BPi1), IL-22BPi2 and IL-22BPi3). Genotyping was extended to a Europe-wide case-control dataset and yielded high significance in the full dataset (p = 3.17 × 10\(^{-4}\)). Importantly, logistic regression analyses conditioning on the main known MS-associated SNP at this locus, rs17066096, revealed that this association was independent from the primary association signal in the full case-control dataset. In silico analysis predicted both disruption of the alpha helix of the H-region of the SP and decreased hydrophobicity of this region, ultimately affecting the SP cleavage site. We tested the effect of the p.Leu16Pro variant on the secretion of IL-22BPi1, IL-22BPi2 and IL-22BPi3 and observed that the Pro16 risk allele significantly lowers secretion levels of each of the isoforms to around 50%–60% in comparison to the Leu16 reference allele. Thus, our study suggests that genetically coded decreased levels of IL-22BP isoforms are associated with augmented risk for MS. KW - IL22RA2 KW - IL-22 binding protein isoform KW - mutation KW - signal peptide KW - multiple sclerosis KW - autoimmune Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200769 SN - 2073-4409 VL - 9 IS - 1 ER - TY - THES A1 - Bellinger, Daniel T1 - Zeitwahrnehmung in der Musik bei Morbus Parkinson - eine psychophysische Studie T1 - Perception of Time in Music in Patients with Parkinson's Disease – A Psychophysical Study N2 - Parkinson Patienten sind im Gegensatz zu gesunden Probanden in der kognitiven Verarbeitung zeitlicher Parameter, im Sinne einer Diskriminierungsfähigkeit für zeitliche Fehler innerhalb der Musikwahrnehmung beeinträchtigt. Dies betrifft lediglich die Zeiterkennung in höheren Intervallbereichen (> 600ms) und ist am ehesten durch Fluktuationen der Aufmerksamkeit, des Gedächtnisses, aber auch im Vergleich zu anderen Studien durch methodische Ansätze zu erklären. Durch die Koppelung des Audiostimulus an klare Rhythmusstrukturen weist diese Studie jedoch darauf hin, dass Überschneidungen zu anderen neuronalen Netzwerken existieren, die zur Kompensationsstrategie rekrutiert und nutzbar gemacht werden können. Dazu gehören etwa die Verarbeitung zeitlicher (Cerebellum) und musikperzeptiver Leistungen, wie etwa die Verarbeitung musikalischer Syntax (BA 6, 22, 44). Etwaige Wahrnehmungsdefizite können durch Mechanismen musiksyntaktischer Verarbeitung kompensiert werden, da zeitliche und syntaktische Strukturen in der Musik auf ihre Kongruenz hin abgeglichen und somit multineuronal mediiert werden (Paradigma der Zeit-Syntax-Kongruenz in der Musikwahrnehmung). Weiterhin sind vermutlich top-down-bottom-up-Prozesse als multimodale Interaktionen an diesem Kompensationsmechanismus beteiligt. Außerdem ist festzuhalten, dass das Krankheitsstadium nicht zwangsläufig mit einem stärkeren Wahrnehmungsdefizit für zeitliche Strukturen einhergehen muss, obwohl – wenn auch noch tolerabel – mit Progression der Erkrankung dieses Kompensationsmodell über Prinzipien der Gestaltwahrnehmung zusammenbricht und es hier zu schlechteren perzeptiven Leistungen kommen kann. Die Ergebnisse der OFF-Testungen und jener unter DBS-Therapie lassen weiterhin aufgrund der kleinen Stichprobe keine klare Aussage zu und machen weitere Untersuchungen notwendig. Das physiologische Alter korreliert außerdem mit der sensorischen Leistung, die allerdings starken, individuellen Unterschieden ausgesetzt ist und von multifaktoriellen Voraussetzungen abhängt. Auch zeigt die Studie, dass Menschen mit einem hohen Musikverständnis und einer musikalischen Ausbildung ein feineres Diskriminierungsvermögen in der zeitlichen Verarbeitung besitzen, welches v.a. im zeitlich niedrigen Intervallbereich (< 500ms) evident wird. N2 - Objective: Perception of time as well as rhythm in musical structures rely on complex brain mechanisms and require an extended network of multiple neural sources. They are therefore sensitive to impairment. Several psychophysical studies have shown that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have deficits in perceiving time and rhythms due to a malfunction of the basal ganglia (BG) network. Method: In this study we investigated the time perception of PD patients during music perception by assessing their just noticeable difference (JND) in the time perception of a complex musical Gestalt. We applied a temporal discrimination task using a short melody with a clear beat-based rhythm. Among the subjects, 26 patients under L-Dopa administration and 21 age-matched controls had to detect an artificially delayed time interval in the range between 80 and 300 ms in the middle of the musical period. We analyzed the data by (a) calculating the detection threshold directly, (b) by extrapolating the JNDs, (c) relating it to musical expertise. Results: Patients differed from controls in the detection of time-intervals between 220 and 300 ms (*p = 0.0200, n = 47). Furthermore, this deficit depended on the severity of the disease (*p = 0.0452; n = 47). Surprisingly, PD patients did not show any deficit of their JND compared to healthy controls, although the results showed a trend (*p = 0.0565, n = 40). Furthermore, no significant difference of the JND was found according to the severity of the disease. Additionally, musically trained persons seemed to have lower thresholds in detecting deviations in time and syntactic structures of music (*p = 0.0343, n = 39). Conclusion: As an explanation of these results, we would like to propose the hypothesis of a time-syntax-congruency in music perception suggesting that processing of time and rhythm is a Gestalt process and that cortical areas involved in processing of musical syntax may compensate for impaired BG circuits that are responsible for time processing and rhythm perception. This mechanism may emerge more strongly as the deficits in time processing and rhythm perception progress. Furthermore, we presume that top-down-bottom-up-processes interfere additionally and interact in this context of compensation. KW - Parkinson KW - Parkinson disease KW - psychophysics KW - Psychophysik KW - Musikwahrnehmung KW - Zeitwahrnehmung KW - Rhythmusperzeption KW - musikalische Syntax KW - time perception KW - rhythmperception KW - musical syntax KW - just noticeable difference (JND) Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-198766 N1 - s. a. Frontiers of Neuroscience. 2017 Feb 23;11:68. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00068. eCollection 2017 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Essig, Fabian A1 - Kollikowski, Alexander M. A1 - Pham, Mirko A1 - Solymosi, László A1 - Stoll, Guido A1 - Haeusler, Karl Georg A1 - Kraft, Peter A1 - Schuhmann, Michael K. T1 - Immunohistological analysis of neutrophils and neutrophil extracellular traps in human thrombemboli causing acute ischemic stroke JF - International Journal of Molecular Sciences N2 - Ischemic stroke caused by thromboembolic occlusion of large cerebral arteries, such as the internal carotid (ICA) and/or the middle cerebral artery (MCA), is treated by mechanical thrombectomy (MT). MT allows salvage of the vessel-occluding thrombemboli, which most frequently originate from the left atrium or the left ventricle of the heart or from sites of plaque rupture within large arteries above the heart. Clot composition may influence the efficacy of (intravenous) thrombolysis and MT, respectively. We analyzed 37 human thrombemboli obtained from acute ischemic stroke patients during MT with special emphasis on histological staining of neutrophils and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). We found neutrophils as the main cellular component of cerebral thrombemboli but encountered considerable morphological heterogeneity. Neutrophils accumulated in the border region of fibrin-rich structures indicating possible interaction of neutrophils with distinct structural thrombembolus components. Web-like NETs were found in 35 of 37 thrombemboli in varying amounts. NETs were almost exclusively found within fibrin-rich areas. Importantly, stroke etiology, age and present oral anticoagulation was associated with morphological patterns and the amount of neutrophils. Correlation of histological data and imaging data revealed that relative Hounsfield units of cerebral thrombemboli positively correlated with the amount of red blood cells. In summary, our results demonstrate that neutrophils and NETs are substantial constituents of cerebral thrombemboli and contribute to their structural complexity. KW - acute ischemic stroke KW - thrombemboli KW - neutrophils KW - NETs KW - immunohistochemistry Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-236192 SN - 1422-0067 VL - 21 IS - 19 ER - TY - THES A1 - Egenolf, Nadine T1 - Multidimensionale morphologische und elektrophysiologische Analyse von Patienten mit Small Fiber Neuropathie T1 - Multidimensional morphological and electrophysiological analysis of patients with small fiber neuropathy N2 - Die Small Fiber Neuropathie (SFN) bildet eine Untergruppe der sensiblen Neuropathien, bei der die Aδ- und C-Fasern betroffen sind. Die Patienten berichten v.a. von brennenden Schmerzen und Dysästhesien, seltener auch von autonomen Funktionsstörungen. Bei fehlendem Goldstandard und normalen Nervenleitungsstudien ist die Diagnostik erschwert, da selbst nach Spezialuntersuchungen wie Hautstanzbiopsie und quantitativer sensorischer Testung (QST) viele Patienten trotz typischer Anamnese der Diagnosestellung entgehen. Wir rekrutierten 55 Patienten und 31 gesunde Kontrollen. Nach neurologischer Untersuchung und Ausschluss einer Polyneuropathie mittels Elektroneurographie wurden bei allen Studienteilnehmern Hautstanzbiopsien am Ober- und Unterschenkel zur Ermittlung der intraepidermalen Nervenfaserdichte (IENFD) entnommen sowie eine QST zur Funktionsprüfung der kleinen Nervenfasern durchgeführt. Die Studienteilnehmer wurden zudem mit cornealer confocaler Mikroskopie (CCM) und der Ableitung Schmerz-assoziierter evozierter Potentiale (PREP) untersucht. Zur autonomen Testung erfolgte die Messung der Schweißproduktion mittels quantitativem sudomotorischem Axonreflextest (QSART). Die neurologische Untersuchung zeigte in 55% der Patienten Hinweise auf eine Kleinfaserpathologie. Die distale IENFD war bei 62% der Patienten reduziert, die QST bei 22% der Patienten auffällig. Die PREP Latenzen waren in der Patientengruppe länger als bei den Kontrollen, die Amplituden niedriger. Bei der cornealen Innervation zeigte sich eine Reduktion der Nervenfaserdichte, Nervenfaserlänge und Nervenastdichte. Die in QSART gemessenen Parameter zeigten sich zu 86% unauffällig. Während nach klinischer Untersuchung, Hautbiopsie und QST in 53% der Fälle in 2 von 3 Untersuchungen eine Pathologie der kleinen Fasern festgestellt werden konnte, stieg die Rate bei zusätzlicher Anwendung von PREP und CCM auf 80% (ohne Berücksichtigung von QST). Zusammenfassend sollten die klinische Untersuchung und die Hautstanzbiopsie bei allen Patienten mit Verdacht auf SFN erfolgen. PREP und CCM sind unter den verfügbaren zusätzlichen Untersuchungen diagnostisch am wertvollsten. Wichtig ist allerdings, dass bei fehlendem Goldstandard eine SFN auch bei unauffälligen Tests nicht ausgeschlossen werden kann. Zusätzlich können die Mikroneurographie und die genetische Analyse wertvolle Hinweise auf eine Kleinfaserfunktionsstörung und deren Pathophysiologie geben. N2 - Small fiber neuropathy (SFN) forms a subgroup of sensory neuropathies, in which the Aδ- and C-fibers are impaired. Patients mainly report burning pain and dysesthesia, less frequently also autonomic dysfunctions. In absence of a diagnostic gold standard and under normal nerve conduction studies, the diagnosis is difficult. Even after special examinations such as skin punch biopsy and quantitative sensory testing (QST), many patients are not diagnosed despite a typical pain history. We prospectively recruited 55 patients and 31 healthy controls in our study. After neurological examination and exclusion of a polyneuropathy by means of neurological examination and electroneurography, skin punch biopsies were taken from the upper and lower leg of all study participants to determine the intraepidermal nerve fiber density (IENFD). QST was performed to investigate the function of the small nerve fibers. Study participants were also examined with corneal confocal microscopy (CCM) and derivation of pain-related evoked potentials (PREP). For autonomous testing, the sweat production was measured using quantitative sudomotor axon reflex testing (QSART). Neurological examination showed hints for small fiber pathology in 55% of patients. The distal IENFD was reduced in 62% of patients, while QST was abnormal in 22% of patients. The PREP latencies were longer in the patient group than in the controls, the amplitudes were smaller. Corneal innervation showed a reduction of nerve fiber density, nerve fiber length, and nerve branch density in patients compared to controls. The parameters measured in QSART were 86% unremarkable. While after clinical examination, skin biopsy, and QST a pathology of the small fibers could be detected in 53% of the cases in 2 of 3 examinations, the rate increased to 80% with additional application of PREP and CCM (without consideration of QST). In summary, neurological examination should be performed together with skin biopsy in all patients with suspected SFN. PREP and CCM are diagnostically most valuable among the available additional examinations. However, it is important to note that in the absence of a gold standard, SFN cannot be excluded even with normal test results. In addition, microneurography and genetic analysis can provide valuable information about a small fiber dysfunction and its pathophysiology. KW - Neuropathischer Schmerz KW - Nervenfaser KW - Evoziertes Potenzial KW - Konfokale Mikroskopie KW - Sensorik KW - Small Fiber Neuropathie KW - Hautstanzbiopsie KW - Quantitative sensorische Testung KW - Mikroneurographie KW - Schmerz-assoziierte evozierte Potenziale KW - Genetik KW - Quantitativer sudomotorischer Axonreflextest KW - Corneale confocale Mikroskopie KW - Intraepidermale Nervenfaserdichte KW - small fiber neuropathy Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-202938 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nguemeni, Carine A1 - Homola, György A. A1 - Nakchbandi, Luis A1 - Pham, Mirko A1 - Volkmann, Jens A1 - Zeller, Daniel T1 - A Single Session of Anodal Cerebellar Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Does Not Induce Facilitation of Locomotor Consolidation in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis JF - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience N2 - Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) may cause variable functional impairment. The discrepancy between functional impairment and brain imaging findings in patients with MS (PwMS) might be attributed to differential adaptive and consolidation capacities. Modulating those abilities could contribute to a favorable clinical course of the disease. Objectives: We examined the effect of cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (c-tDCS) on locomotor adaptation and consolidation in PwMS using a split-belt treadmill (SBT) paradigm. Methods: 40 PwMS and 30 matched healthy controls performed a locomotor adaptation task on a SBT. First, we assessed locomotor adaptation in PwMS. In a second investigation, this training was followed by cerebellar anodal tDCS applied immediately after the task ipsilateral to the fast leg (T0). The SBT paradigm was repeated 24 h (T1) and 78 h (T2) post-stimulation to evaluate consolidation. Results: The gait dynamics and adaptation on the SBT were comparable between PwMS and controls. We found no effects of offline cerebellar anodal tDCS on locomotor adaptation and consolidation. Participants who received the active stimulation showed the same retention index than sham-stimulated subjects at T1 (p = 0.33) and T2 (p = 0.46). Conclusion: Locomotor adaptation is preserved in people with mild-to-moderate MS. However, cerebellar anodal tDCS applied immediately post-training does not further enhance this ability. Future studies should define the neurobiological substrates of maintained plasticity in PwMS and how these substrates can be manipulated to improve compensation. Systematic assessments of methodological variables for cerebellar tDCS are urgently needed to increase the consistency and replicability of the results across experiments in various settings. KW - multiple sclerosis KW - cerebellar tDCS KW - split-belt treadmill KW - locomotor adaptation KW - consolidation Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-215291 SN - 1662-5161 VL - 14 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gründahl, Marie A1 - Wacker, Beate A1 - Einsele, Hermann A1 - Heinz, Werner J. T1 - Invasive fungal diseases in patients with new diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia JF - Mycoses N2 - Background Patients with acute leukaemia have a high incidence of fungal infections. This has primarily been shown in acute myeloid leukaemia and is different for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Until now no benefit of mould active prophylaxis has been demonstrated in the latter population. Methods In this retrospective single‐centre study, we analysed the incidence, clinical relevance, and outcome of invasive fungal diseases (IFD) as well as the impact of antifungal prophylaxis for the first 100 days following the primary diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Results In 58 patients a high rate of proven, probable, and possible fungal infections could be demonstrated with a 3.4%, 8.6%, and 17.2% likelihood, respectively. The incidence might be even higher, as nearly 40% of all patients had no prolonged neutropenia for more than 10 days, excluding those from the European Organization of Research and Treatment of cancer and the Mycoses Study Group criteria for probable invasive fungal disease. The diagnosed fungal diseases had an impact on the duration of hospitalisation, which was 13 days longer for patients with proven/probable IFD compared to patients with no signs of fungal infection. Use of antifungal prophylaxis did not significantly affect the risk of fungal infection. Conclusion Patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia are at high risk of acquiring an invasive fungal disease. Appropriate criteria to define fungal infections, especially in this population, and strategies to reduce the risk of infection, including antifungal prophylaxis, need to be further evaluated. KW - acute lymphoblastic leukaemia KW - fungal infection KW - galactomannan KW - incidence KW - mortality Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-217844 VL - 63 IS - 10 SP - 1101 EP - 1106 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Petzke, Frank A1 - Klose, Petra A1 - Welsch, Patrick A1 - Sommer, Claudia A1 - Häuser, Winfried T1 - Opioids for chronic low back pain: An updated systematic review and meta‐analysis of efficacy, tolerability and safety in randomized placebo‐controlled studies of at least 4 weeks of double‐blind duration JF - European Journal of Pain N2 - Background and Objective This updated systematic review evaluated the efficacy, tolerability and safety of opioids compared to placebo in non‐malignant chronic low back pain. Databases and Data Treatment Clinicaltrials.gov, CENTRAL, MEDLINE and PsycINFO were searched from October 2013 to May 2019. Randomized controlled trials comparing opioids with placebo and at least 4 weeks of double‐blinded duration were analysed. Primary outcomes were pain relief of 50% or greater, disability, tolerability and safety. Effects were summarized by a random effects model using risk differences or standardized mean differences. We added nine new studies with 2,980 participants for a total of 21 studies with 7,650 participants. Study duration ranged between 4 and 15 weeks. Studies with a parallel and cross‐over design: Based on very low to low‐quality evidence, opioids provided no clinically relevant pain relief of 50% or greater, but a clinically relevant reduction of disability compared to placebo. Enriched enrolment randomized withdrawal (EERW) design: Based on very low to low‐quality evidence, opioids provided a clinically relevant pain relief of 50% or greater, but not a clinically relevant reduction of disability compared to placebo. There was no clinically relevant harm with regard to serious adverse events by opioids compared to placebo in studies with parallel/cross‐over and EERW design. There was a relevant harm with regard to drop out rates due to adverse events in studies with parallel/cross‐over, but not in studies with EERW design. Conclusions Opioids may provide a safe and clinically relevant pain relief for 4–15 weeks in highly selected patients. Significance Within the context of randomized controlled trials of 4–15 weeks, opioids provided a clinically relevant pain relief of 30% or greater and a clinically relevant reduction of disability compared to placebo in non‐malignant chronic low back pain. Number needed to treat for an additional drop out due to side effects was 11 (95% confidence interval: 6–33). Assessment of abuse and addiction was incomplete. The frequency of serious adverse events including deaths did not differ from placebo. KW - opioids KW - back pain KW - systematic review Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218498 VL - 24 IS - 3 SP - 497 EP - 517 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klitsch, Alexander A1 - Evdokimov, Dimitar A1 - Frank, Johanna A1 - Thomas, Dominique A1 - Saffer, Nadine A1 - Meyer zu Altenschildesche, Caren A1 - Sisignano, Marco A1 - Kampik, Daniel A1 - Malik, Rayaz A. A1 - Sommer, Claudia A1 - Üçeyler, Nurcan T1 - Reduced association between dendritic cells and corneal sub‐basal nerve fibers in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome JF - Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System N2 - In our study, we aimed at investigating corneal langerhans cells (LC) in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and small fiber neuropathy (SFN) as potential contributors to corneal small fiber pathology. We enrolled women with FMS (n = 134) and SFN (n = 41) who underwent neurological examination, neurophysiology, prostaglandin analysis in tear fluid, and corneal confocal microscopy (CCM). Data were compared with those of 60 age‐matched female controls. After screening for dry eye disease, corneal LC were counted and sub‐classified as dendritic (dLC) and non‐dendritic (ndLC) cells with or without nerve fiber association. We further analyzed corneal nerve fiber density (CNFD), length (CNFL), and branch density (CNBD). Neurological examination indicated deficits of small fiber function in patients with SFN. Nerve conduction studies were normal in all participants. Dry eye disease was more prevalent in FMS (17%) and SFN (28%) patients than in controls (5%). Tear fluid prostaglandin levels did not differ between FMS patients and controls. While corneal LC density in FMS and SFN patients was not different from controls, there were fewer dLC in association with nerve fibers in FMS and SFN patients than in controls (P < .01 each). Compared to controls, CNFL was lower in FMS and SFN patients (P < .05 each), CNFD was lower only in FMS patients (P < .05), and CNBD was lower only in SFN patients (P < .001). There was no difference in any CCM parameter between patients with and without dry eyes. Our data indicate changes in corneal innervation and LC distribution in FMS and SFN, potentially based on altered LC signaling. KW - corneal confocal microscopy KW - fibromyalgia syndrome KW - Langerhans cells KW - pain KW - small fiber neuropathy Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-214150 VL - 25 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wirsching, Isabelle A1 - Ort, Nora A1 - Üçeyler, Nurcan T1 - ALS or ALS mimic by neuroborreliosis — A case report JF - Clinical Case Reports N2 - Comprehensive investigation in motor neuron disease is vital not to miss a treatable differential diagnosis. Neuroborreliosis should be considered during an ALS work‐up. However, false‐positive CSF results do occur, and thus, results should be interpreted carefully in context of all clinical test results. KW - ALS mimic KW - El Escorial KW - motor neuron disease KW - muscle atrophy KW - neuroborreliosis Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-201308 VL - 8 ER - TY - THES A1 - Kuzkina, Anastasia T1 - Dermal α-synuclein oligomers and aggregates in Parkinson’s disease T1 - Nachweis von Alpha-Synuclein-Oligomeren und -Aggregaten in Hautbiopsien von Parkinson-Patienten N2 - Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites are neuropathological hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease (PD). These depositions in the brain mostly consist of aggregated α-synuclein (α-syn) phosphorylated at Ser129. A number of studies reported detection of phosphorylated α-syn (p-α-syn) in the dermal nerve fibers in Parkinson’s disease. The objective of this study was to investigate whether pathological α-syn accumulations detected in the skin represent aggregated protein. A number of methods aimed at detecting α-syn oligomers and aggregates were first tested and optimized on the brain samples in PD and normal control. These methods included proximity ligation assay (PLA), PET-blot, immunohistochemical (IHC) stains with α-syn aggregate (5G4) or oligomer specific (ASyO5) antibodies and a stain against native α-syn (syn211) after proteinase K (PK) digestion. Subsequently, the most specific methods (stains with 5G4, ASyO5 and syn211 after PK digestion) were studied in two separate patient and control cohorts. Anti-p-α-syn stain was performed in parallel. Single sections from at least 2 biopsy sites from 44 patients and 22 controls (cohort 1) as well as serial sections of 4 biopsy sites from 27 patients and 5 controls (cohort 2) were systematically studied for presence of aggregated and oligomeric α-syn. In total, 5G4 positive deposits were found in 24% (cohort 1) and 37% (cohort 2), ASyO5 positive lesions in 17,7% (cohort 1) and 33% (cohort 2), syn211 positive lesions after PK digestion in 38,7% (cohort 1) and 48% (cohort 2) of cases. There was a major overlap among positivity for a particular staining on the patient level and in most cases, the same nerve fiber was found to be positive for all 4 markers in neighboring sections. Among the skin biopsies which contained p-α-syn accumulation, 59% were also PK resistant, 41% were 5G4 positive and 45% were ASyO5 positive. The samples belonging to normal controls did not show any positive signal in either of the newly established stainings or in the anti-p-α-syn staining. Using 3 distinct IHC methods, α-syn oligomers and aggregates were detectable in the majority of p-α-syn positive skin biopsies. This finding supports the hypothesis that α-syn aggregation occurs in the peripheral (i.e. dermal) nerves and can be specifically detected using skin biopsy. N2 - Die neuropathologischen Kennzeichen des Morbus Parkinson sind Lewy-Körperchen und Lewy-Neuriten. Diese Ablagerungen im Gehirn bestehen hauptsächlich aus aggregiertem α-Synuclein (α-Syn), das am Ser129 phosphoryliert ist. Mehrere Studien konnten zeigen, dass phosphoryliertes α-Syn (p-α-Syn) auch in Nervenfasern der Haut von Parkinsonpatienten nachweisbar ist. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit war, zu untersuchen, ob es sich bei den pathologischen Ablagerungen von p-α-Syn in der Haut wie im Gehirn um Aggregate handelt. Mehrere Methoden, die dem Nachweis von α-Syn-Oligomere und Aggregate dienen, wurden zuerst an Gehirnen von einem Parkinsonpatienten und Normalkontrolle getestet und optimiert, darunter: Proximity Ligation Assay (PLA), PET-Blot, immunhistochemische Färbungen mit α-Syn-Aggregat- (5G4) oder Oligomer-spezifischen Antikörper (ASyO5) und eine Färbung mit einem Antikörper gegen natives α-Syn (syn211) nach Verdau mit Proteinase K (PK). Danach wurden die spezifischsten Methoden (Färbung mit 5G4, ASyO5 und syn211 nach PK-Verdau) an den Hautstanzbiopsien von zwei Patienten- und Normalkontrollkohorten untersucht. Parallel wurde in den Biopsien das p-α-Syn angefärbt. Einzelschnitte von je mind. 2 Biopsiestellen von 44 Patienten und 22 Kontrollen (Kohorte 1) sowie Serienschnitte von je 4 Biopsiestellen von 27 Patienten und 5 Kontrollen (Kohorte 2) wurden systematisch nach Vorliegen von aggregierten und oligomerischen α-Syn untersucht. Zusammenfassend, wurden 5G4-positive Ablagerungen in 24% (Kohorte 1) und 37% (2. Kohorte), ASyO5-positive Läsionen in 17,7% (Kohorte 1) und 33% (Kohorte 2), syn211-positive Läsionen nach PK-Verdau in 38,7% (Kohorte 1) und 48% (Kohorte 2) der Fälle gefunden. Das p-α-Syn wurde entsprechend in 43,6% und 48% der Fälle detektiert. Es zeigte sich die Tendenz, dass Patienten, bei denen p-α-Syn nachweisbar war, auch für mehrere der neuen Marker positiv waren; auch häufig waren für alle 4 Marker positive Nervenfasern in naheliegenden Schnitte zu sehen, was für eine Kolokalisation spricht. Unter den Hautbiopsien, in den p-α-Syn-Ablagerungen zu sehen waren, hatten 59% gleichzeitig PK-resistente, 41% 5G4- und 45% ASyO5-positive Ablagerungen. Bei Kontrollen waren Ablagerungen weder mit den neu eingeführten Methoden noch mit anti-p-α-Syn-Färbung detektierbar. Mit Hilfe von drei unterschiedlichen immunhistochemischen Methoden waren Oligomere und Aggregate vom α-Syn im Großteil der p-α-Syn-positiven Hautbiopsien nachweisbar. Dieser Befund unterstützt die Hypothese, dass die Ablagerung von α-Syn-Aggregaten auch in peripheren (v.a. dermalen) Nerven vorkommt und spezifisch nachgewiesen werden kann. KW - Parkinson-Krankheit KW - Biomarker KW - Haut KW - Biopsie KW - parkinson's disease KW - skin biopsy KW - alpha-synuclein KW - biomarker Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-204369 ER - TY - THES A1 - Töppner, Verena T1 - Therapie und Outcome von Patienten mit aneurysmatischer Subarachnoidalblutung am Universitätsklinikum Würzburg T1 - Therapy and outcome of patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage at the university hospital Würzburg N2 - Die aneurysmatische SAB ist trotz etablierter Therapieverfahren (Coiling und Clipping) weiterhin ein Krankheitsbild mit hoher Mortalität. In unserer Arbeit haben wir retrospektiv die Patientenakten der Patienten, die mit der Diagnose aneurysmatische SAB am Universitätsklinikum Würzburg zwischen dem 01.01.1999 und dem 31.12.2009 aufgenommen wurden, ausgewertet. Es konnte dargestellt werden das als Hauptrisikofaktoren für ein schlechtes Therapieergebnis ein schlechter Aufnahmestatus des Patienten und das Auftreten von Komplikationen im Verlauf verantwortlich sind. N2 - The aneurysmal SAH is still, despite well-established therapeutic methods (Coiling and Clipping), a disease with a high rate of mortality. Our study did a retrospective research on the data of patients who have been hospitalized with the diagnosis of aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage between 01.01.1999 and. 31.12.2009 at the university hospital Würzburg. We could define a bad neurological status at admission and the occurrence of complications as the major risk factors for a bad neurological outcome. KW - Subarachnoidalblutung KW - Aneurysma Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-209129 ER - TY - THES A1 - Buchwald, Sina T1 - Autoimmune Enzephalitiden am Universitätsklinikum Würzburg von 2006-2016 T1 - Cases of autoimmune encephalitis at the Universitätsklinikum Würzburg from 2006-2016 N2 - In den Jahren von 2006 bis 2016 sind am Universitätsklinikum Würzburg insgesamt 26 Patienten mit der Diagnose einer Autoimmunen Enzephalitis behandelt worden. Diese Arbeit zeigt ihre Krankheitsverläufe, Outcome, die gefundenen Antikörper und die Therapien der jeweiligen Patienten. Im zweiten Schritt wurden die Daten mit den in der Literatur bereits beschrieben Fällen verglichen, um Gemeinsamkeiten, aber auch Unterschiede aufzeigen zu können. N2 - In the time from 2006 to 2016, 26 patients with the diagnosis "autoimmune encephalitis” were treated at the Universitätsklinikum in Würzburg. This paper shows their data, antibody findings, treatments and outcomes. In a second step, this data was compared with cases that have already been described in literature to show similarities and differences. KW - Enzephalitis KW - Autoimmun KW - Encephalitis KW - autoimmune Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-207202 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kollikowski, Alexander M. A1 - Schuhmann, Michael K. A1 - Nieswandt, Bernhard A1 - Müllges, Wolfgang A1 - Stoll, Guido A1 - Pham, Mirko T1 - Local Leukocyte Invasion during Hyperacute Human Ischemic Stroke JF - Annals of Neurology N2 - Objective Bridging the gap between experimental stroke and patients by ischemic blood probing during the hyperacute stage of vascular occlusion is crucial to assess the role of inflammation in human stroke and for the development of adjunct treatments beyond recanalization. Methods We prospectively observed 151 consecutive ischemic stroke patients with embolic large vessel occlusion of the anterior circulation who underwent mechanical thrombectomy. In all these patients, we attempted microcatheter aspiration of 3 different arterial blood samples: (1) within the core of the occluded vascular compartment and controlled by (2) carotid and (3) femoral samples obtained under physiological flow conditions. Subsequent laboratory analyses comprised leukocyte counting and differentiation, platelet counting, and the quantification of 13 proinflammatory human chemokines/cytokines. Results Forty patients meeting all clinical, imaging, interventional, and laboratory inclusion criteria could be analyzed, showing that the total number of leukocytes significantly increased under the occlusion condition. This increase was predominantly driven by neutrophils. Significant increases were also apparent for lymphocytes and monocytes, accompanied by locally elevated plasma levels of the T‐cell chemoattractant CXCL‐11. Finally, we found evidence that short‐term clinical outcome (National Institute of Health Stroke Scale at 72 hours) was negatively associated with neutrophil accumulation. Interpretation We provide the first direct human evidence that neutrophils, lymphocytes, and monocytes, accompanied by specific chemokine upregulation, accumulate in the ischemic vasculature during hyperacute stroke and may affect outcome. These findings strongly support experimental evidence that immune cells contribute to acute ischemic brain damage and indicate that ischemic inflammation initiates already during vascular occlusion. Ann Neurol 2020;87:466–479 KW - neurology Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-212168 VL - 87 IS - 3 ER - TY - THES A1 - Weigl, Anna T1 - Korrelation zwischen subjektiver Fatigue und objektiven physischen und kognitiven Einschränkungen bei Multipler Sklerose: eine Querschnittsstudie T1 - Correlation between subjective fatigue and objective physical and cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis: a cross-sectional study N2 - Fatigue als ein „überwältigendes Gefühl von Müdigkeit, Energielosigkeit und Erschöpfung” stellt bei Patienten mit MS ein häufig auftretendes und oft im Alltag beeinträchtigendes Symptom dar, das sowohl mit körperlichen als auch mit kognitiven Erschöpfungssymptomen einhergeht. Die objektive Erfassung des Schweregrades der Fatigue beim einzelnen Patienten stellt ein Problem dar, da bisher keine objektiven Messverfahren zur Erfassung der Fatigue existieren. Im klinischen Alltag kommen meist Fragebögen zum Einsatz, die das Ausmaß der subjektiven Beeinträchtigung durch Fatigue im Alltag quantifizieren sollen. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, zu untersuchen, inwieweit bestimmte im klinischen Alltag erhobene Parameter Rückschlüsse auf die subjektive Fatigue bei Patienten mit MS erlauben, auch im Hinblick darauf, ob sich einzelne Parameter besonders zur Einschätzung der körperlichen bzw. kognitiven Fatigue eignen. Zudem sollte untersucht werden, ob die untersuchten klinischen Parameter bei bestimmten Patientengruppen besser als bei anderen Rückschlüsse auf die subjektive Fatigue erlauben. Erfasst wurde die subjektive Fatigue durch das Würzburger Erschöpfungsinventar bei Multipler Sklerose (WEIMuS), einer Serie von Fragen, die zwischen körperlicher und kognitiver Fatigue unterscheiden. Dazu wurden Korrelationsanalysen zwischen der WEIMuS-Gesamtskala bzw. deren Subskalen für körperliche und kognitive Fatigue und EDSS-Wert, MSFC Z-Score einschließlich dessen Subscores und der Zeit des 50-Meter-Gehversuchs durchgeführt. Bezüglich der körperlichen Fatigue ergaben sich zwischen der WEIMuS-Subskala für körperliche Fatigue und dem EDSS sowie der Zeit des 50-Meter-Gehversuchs im Vergleich die stärksten, absolut gesehen als mittelstark zu wertende, Korrelationen. Bezüglich der kognitiven Fatigue ergab sich die stärkste Korrelation zwischen der WEIMuS-Subskala für kognitive Fatigue und dem PASAT3, die allerdings trotzdem als gering zu werten ist. Mit EDSS und 50-Meter-Gehversuch scheinen also zwei objektive klinische Parameter zu existieren, die in einem gewissen Maß auf die subjektive Fatigue rückschließen lassen. Ziel weiterer Untersuchungen wird es sein müssen, einen geeigneten klinischen Parameter zu finden, der bessere Rückschlüsse auf die subjektive kognitive Fatigue erlaubt als der PASAT3. Zwischen der WEIMuS-Gesamtskala bzw. deren Subskalen für körperliche und kognitive Fatigue und Alter, Geschlecht und Erkrankungsdauer fanden sich bestenfalls geringe Korrelationen, weshalb diese Parameter ungeeignet erscheinen, Aussagen über die subjektive Fatigue zu machen. Durch die Einteilung der Patienten nach Alter und Geschlecht konnte untersucht werden, inwieweit diese Parameter Einfluss auf die untersuchten Zusammenhänge zwischen klinischen Parametern und subjektiver Fatigue haben. Die Korrelationen zwischen den WEIMuS-Subskalen für körperliche und kognitive Fatigue mit den untersuchten klinischen Parametern waren für junge Patienten überwiegend stärker als für ältere Patienten, insbesondere ältere Männer. Somit scheinen die untersuchten klinischen Parameter bei jüngeren Patienten besser geeignet, Aussagen über die subjektive Fatigue zu machen als bei älteren. Insgesamt ist festzuhalten, dass EDSS und 50-Meter-Gehversuch insbesondere bei jungen Patienten zu einer besseren objektiven Beurteilbarkeit vor allem der körperlichen Fatigue im klinischen Alltag beitragen können. N2 - Fatigue as an "overwhelming feeling of tiredness, lack of energy and exhaustion" is a common and often disabling symptom in patients with MS, which is associated with both physical and cognitive symptoms of exhaustion. The objective assessment of the severity of fatigue in the individual patient is a problem, because so far no objective measurement methods exist for the assessment of fatigue. In clinical practice, questionnaires are usually used to quantify the extent of subjective impairment caused by fatigue in everyday life. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which certain parameters collected in everyday clinical practice allow conclusions to be drawn about subjective fatigue in patients with MS, also with regard to whether individual parameters are particularly suitable for assessing physical or cognitive fatigue. In addition, it should be investigated whether the examined clinical parameters allow better conclusions about the subjective fatigue in certain patient groups than in others. Subjective fatigue was assessed by the Würzburger Erschöpfungsinventar bei Multipler Sklerose (WEIMuS), a series of questions that distinguish between physical and cognitive fatigue. For this purpose, correlation analyses were performed between the WEIMuS total scale or its subscales for physical and cognitive fatigue and EDSS score, MSFC Z-score including its subscores, and the time of the 50-meter walk test. Regarding physical fatigue, the WEIMuS physical fatigue subscale and the EDSS and the time of the 50-meter walk test showed the strongest correlations in comparison, which could be considered medium in absolute terms. Regarding cognitive fatigue, the strongest correlation was found between the WEIMuS cognitive fatigue subscale and the PASAT3, which, however, should still be considered low. Thus, with EDSS and 50-meter walk test, two objective clinical parameters seem to exist that can be used to infer subjective fatigue to a certain extent. The aim of further investigations will have to be to find a suitable clinical parameter that allows better conclusions about subjective cognitive fatigue than the PASAT3. Between the WEIMuS total scale or its subscales for physical and cognitive fatigue and age, gender and duration of illness, at best only low correlations were found, which is why these parameters appear unsuitable for making statements about subjective fatigue. By classifying patients according to age and gender, it was possible to investigate the extent to which these parameters influence the correlations investigated between clinical parameters and subjective fatigue. The correlations between the WEIMuS physical and cognitive fatigue subscales with the clinical parameters studied were predominantly stronger for young patients than for older patients, especially older men. Thus, the clinical parameters studied appear to be better at providing information about subjective fatigue in younger patients than in older patients. Overall, it can be concluded that EDSS and 50-meter-walk test can contribute to a better objective assessability especially of physical fatigue in clinical practice, especially in young patients. KW - Multiple Sklerose KW - Fatigue Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218960 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Samper Agrelo, Iria A1 - Schira-Heinen, Jessica A1 - Beyer, Felix A1 - Groh, Janos A1 - Bütermann, Christine A1 - Estrada, Veronica A1 - Poschmann, Gereon A1 - Bribian, Ana A1 - Jadasz, Janusz J. A1 - Lopez-Mascaraque, Laura A1 - Kremer, David A1 - Martini, Rudolf A1 - Müller, Hans Werner A1 - Hartung, Hans Peter A1 - Adjaye, James A1 - Stühler, Kai A1 - Küry, Patrick T1 - Secretome analysis of mesenchymal stem cell factors fostering oligodendroglial differentiation of neural stem cells in vivo JF - International Journal of Molecular Sciences N2 - Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-secreted factors have been shown to significantly promote oligodendrogenesis from cultured primary adult neural stem cells (aNSCs) and oligodendroglial precursor cells (OPCs). Revealing underlying mechanisms of how aNSCs can be fostered to differentiate into a specific cell lineage could provide important insights for the establishment of novel neuroregenerative treatment approaches aiming at myelin repair. However, the nature of MSC-derived differentiation and maturation factors acting on the oligodendroglial lineage has not been identified thus far. In addition to missing information on active ingredients, the degree to which MSC-dependent lineage instruction is functional in vivo also remains to be established. We here demonstrate that MSC-derived factors can indeed stimulate oligodendrogenesis and myelin sheath generation of aNSCs transplanted into different rodent central nervous system (CNS) regions, and furthermore, we provide insights into the underlying mechanism on the basis of a comparative mass spectrometry secretome analysis. We identified a number of secreted proteins known to act on oligodendroglia lineage differentiation. Among them, the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase type 1 (TIMP-1) was revealed to be an active component of the MSC-conditioned medium, thus validating our chosen secretome approach. KW - neural stem cells KW - mesenchymal stem cells KW - transplantation KW - oligodendroglia KW - glial fate modulation KW - myelin KW - spinal cord KW - secretome KW - TIMP-1 Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-285465 SN - 1422-0067 VL - 21 IS - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Peterka, Manuel A1 - Odorfer, Thorsten A1 - Schwab, Michael A1 - Volkmann, Jens A1 - Zeller, Daniel T1 - LSVT-BIG therapy in Parkinson's disease: physiological evidence for proprioceptive recalibration JF - BMC Neurology N2 - Background There is growing evidence for proprioceptive dysfunction in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The Lee Silvermann Voice Treatment-BIG therapy (LSVT-BIG), a special training program aiming at an increase of movement amplitudes in persons with PD (PwPD), has shown to be effective on motor symptoms. LSVT-BIG is conceptionally based on improving bradykinesia, in particular the decrement of repetitive movements, by proprioceptive recalibration. Objective To assess proprioceptive impairment in PwPD as compared to matched controls and to probe potential recalibration effects of the LSVT-BIG therapy on proprioception. Methods Proprioceptive performance and fine motor skills were assessed in 30 PwPD and 15 matched controls. Measurements with significant impairment in PwPD were chosen as outcome parameters for a standardized 4 weeks amplitude-based training intervention (LSVT-BIG) in 11 PwPD. Proprioceptive performance served as primary outcome measure. Secondary outcome measures included the motor part of the MDS-UPDRS, the nine-hole-peg test, and a questionnaire on quality of life. Post-interventional assessments were conducted at weeks 4 and 8. Results Compared to the control group, PwPD showed significantly larger pointing errors. After 4 weeks of LSVT-BIG therapy and even more so after an additional 4 weeks of continued training, proprioceptive performance improved significantly. In addition, quality of life improved as indicated by a questionnaire. Conclusion LSVT-BIG training may achieve a recalibration of proprioceptive processing in PwPD. Our data indicates a probable physiological mechanism of a symptom-specific, amplitude-based behavioral intervention in PwPD. KW - Proprioception KW - Amplitude KW - Training KW - Pointing error KW - LSVT-big therapy Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230084 VL - 20 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sommer, Claudia A1 - Klose, Petra A1 - Welsch, Patrick A1 - Petzke, Frank A1 - Häuser, Winfried T1 - Opioids for chronic non‐cancer neuropathic pain. An updated systematic review and meta‐analysis of efficacy, tolerability and safety in randomized placebo‐controlled studies of at least 4 weeks duration JF - European Journal of Pain N2 - Background and Objective This updated systematic review evaluated the efficacy, tolerability and safety of opioids compared to placebo in chronic non‐cancer neuropathic pain. Databases and Data Treatment Clinicaltrials.gov, CENTRAL, PubMed and PsycINFO were searched from October 2013 to June 2019. Randomized controlled trials comparing opioids with placebo and at least 4 weeks double‐blinded duration were analysed. Primary outcomes were pain relief of 50% or greater, disability, tolerability and safety. Effects were summarized by a random effects model using risk differences (RD) or standardized mean differences (SMD). We added four new studies with 662 participants for a total of 16 included studies with 2,199 participants. Study duration ranged between 4 and 12 weeks. Studies with a parallel and cross‐over design: Based on low to moderate quality evidence, opioids (buprenorphine, hydromorphone, morphine, oxycodone, tramadol) provided a clinically relevant pain relief of 50% or greater and reduction of disability compared to placebo. There was no clinically relevant harm with regards to the drop out rate due to adverse and serious adverse events by opioids compared to placebo. Enriched enrolment randomized withdrawal design: Based on low to moderate quality evidence, tapentadol provided a clinically relevant pain relief of 50% or greater and reduction of disability compared to placebo in diabetic polyneuropathy. There was no clinically relevant harm with regards to the drop out rate due to adverse and serious adverse events by tapentadol compared to placebo. Conclusions Some opioids provided a short‐term substantial pain relief in highly selected patients in some neuropathic pain syndromes. Significance Some opioids (buprenorphine, morphine, oxycodone, tramadol, tapentadol) provide substantial pain relief compared to placebo in postherpetic neuralgia and peripheral neuropathies of different aetiologies for 4–12 weeks. There is insufficient evidence to support or refute the suggestion that these drugs are effective in other neuropathic pain conditions. The safety of opioids with regards to abuse and deaths in the studies analysed cannot be extrapolated to routine clinical care. Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218487 VL - 24 IS - 1 SP - 3 EP - 18 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Steinhardt, M. J. A1 - Wiercinska, E. A1 - Pham, M. A1 - Grigoleit, G. U. A1 - Mazzoni, A. A1 - Da-Via, M. A1 - Zhou, X. A1 - Meckel, K. A1 - Nickel, K. A1 - Duell, J. A1 - Krummenast, F. C. A1 - Kraus, S. A1 - Hopkinson, C. A1 - Weissbrich, B. A1 - Müllges, W. A1 - Stoll, G. A1 - Kortüm, K. M. A1 - Einsele, H. A1 - Bonig, H. A1 - Rasche, L. T1 - Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in a patient post allo-HCT successfully treated with JC virus specific donor lymphocytes JF - Journal of Translational Medicine N2 - Background Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy is a demyelinating CNS disorder. Reactivation of John Cunningham virus leads to oligodendrocyte infection with lysis and consequent axonal loss due to demyelination. Patients usually present with confusion and seizures. Late diagnosis and lack of adequate therapy options persistently result in permanent impairment of brain functions. Due to profound T cell depletion, impairment of T-cell function and potent immunosuppressive factors, allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation recipients are at high risk for JCV reactivation. To date, PML is almost universally fatal when occurring after allo-HCT. Methods To optimize therapy specificity, we enriched JCV specific T-cells out of the donor T-cell repertoire from the HLA-identical, anti-JCV-antibody positive family stem cell donor by unstimulated peripheral apheresis [1]. For this, we selected T cells responsive to five JCV peptide libraries via the Cytokine Capture System technology. It enables the enrichment of JCV specific T cells via identification of stimulus-induced interferon gamma secretion. Results Despite low frequencies of responsive T cells, we succeeded in generating a product containing 20 000 JCV reactive T cells ready for patient infusion. The adoptive cell transfer was performed without complication. Consequently, the clinical course stabilized and the patient slowly went into remission of PML with JCV negative CSF and containment of PML lesion expansion. Conclusion We report for the first time feasibility of generating T cells with possible anti-JCV activity from a seropositive family donor, a variation of virus specific T-cell therapies suitable for the post allo transplant setting. We also present the unusual case for successful treatment of PML after allo-HCT via virus specific T-cell therapy. KW - Myeloma KW - JCV KW - Prodigy KW - CCS KW - PML KW - Donor lymphocytes KW - Adaptive cell transfer Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-229307 VL - 18 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hartmannsberger, Beate A1 - Doppler, Kathrin A1 - Stauber, Julia A1 - Schlotter-Weigel, Beate A1 - Young, Peter A1 - Sereda, Michael W. A1 - Sommer, Claudia T1 - Intraepidermal nerve fiber density as biomarker in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease 1A JF - Brain Communications N2 - Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease type 1A, caused by a duplication of the gene peripheral myelin protein 22 kDa, is the most frequent subtype of hereditary peripheral neuropathy with an estimated prevalence of 1:5000. Patients suffer from sensory deficits, muscle weakness and foot deformities. There is no treatment approved for this disease. Outcome measures in clinical trials were based mainly on clinical features but did not evaluate the actual nerve damage. In our case–control study, we aimed to provide objective and reproducible outcome measures for future clinical trials. We collected skin samples from 48 patients with Charcot–Marie–Tooth type 1A, 7 patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, 16 patients with small fibre neuropathy and 45 healthy controls. To analyse skin innervation, 40-µm cryosections of glabrous skin taken from the lateral index finger were double-labelled by immunofluorescence. The disease severity of patients with Charcot–Marie–Tooth type 1A was assessed by the Charcot–Marie–Tooth neuropathy version 2 score, which ranged from 3 (mild) to 27 (severe) and correlated with age (P < 0.01, R = 0.4). Intraepidermal nerve fibre density was reduced in patients with Charcot–Marie–Tooth type 1A compared with the healthy control group (P < 0.01) and negatively correlated with disease severity (P < 0.05, R = −0.293). Meissner corpuscle (MC) density correlated negatively with age in patients with Charcot–Marie–Tooth type 1A (P < 0.01, R = −0.45) but not in healthy controls (P = 0.07, R = 0.28). The density of Merkel cells was reduced in patients with Charcot–Marie–Tooth type 1A compared with healthy controls (P < 0.05). Furthermore, in patients with Charcot–Marie–Tooth type 1A, the fraction of denervated Merkel cells was highly increased and correlated with age (P < 0.05, R = 0.37). Analysis of nodes of Ranvier revealed shortened paranodes and a reduced fraction of long nodes in patients compared with healthy controls (both P < 0.001). Langerhans cell density was increased in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, but not different in Charcot–Marie–Tooth type 1A compared with healthy controls. Our data suggest that intraepidermal nerve fibre density might be used as an outcome measure in Charcot–Marie–Tooth type 1A disease, as it correlates with disease severity. The densities of Meissner corpuscles and Merkel cells might be an additional tool for the evaluation of the disease progression. Analysis of follow-up biopsies will clarify the effects of Charcot–Marie–Tooth type 1A disease progression on cutaneous innervation. KW - Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease type 1A KW - skin punch biopsy KW - intraepidermal nerve fibre density KW - Merkel cell density KW - reproducible outcome measure Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-229538 VL - 2 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Elhfnawy, Ahmed Mohamed A1 - Abd El‐Raouf, Mervat A1 - Volkmann, Jens A1 - Fluri, Felix A1 - Elsalamawy, Doaa T1 - Relation of infarction location and volume to vertigo in vertebrobasilar stroke JF - Brain and Behavior N2 - Objective Vertigo is a common presentation of vertebrobasilar stroke. Anecdotal reports have shown that vertigo occurs more often in multiple than in single brainstem or cerebellar infarctions. We examined the relation between the location and volume of infarction and vertigo in patients with vertebrobasilar stroke. Methods Consecutive patients with vertebrobasilar stroke were prospectively recruited. The infarction location and volume were assessed in the diffusion‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Results Fifty‐nine patients were included, 32 (54.2%) with vertigo and 27 (45.8%) without vertigo. The infarction volume did not correlate with National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score on admission (Spearman ρ = .077, p = .56) but correlated with modified Rankin Scale (ρ = .37, p = .004) on discharge. In the vertigo group, the proportion of men was lower (53.1% vs. 77.8%, p = .049), fewer patients had focal neurological deficits (65.6% vs. 96.3%, p = .004), patients tended to present later (median [IQR] was 7.5 [4–46] vs. 4 [2–12] hours, p = .052), numerically fewer patients received intravenous thrombolysis (15.6% vs. 37%, p = .06), and the total infarction volume was larger (5.6 vs. 0.42 cm3, p = .008) than in nonvertigo group. In multivariate logistic regression, infarction location either in the cerebellum or in the dorsal brainstem (odds ratio [OR] 16.97, 95% CI 3.1–92.95, p = .001) and a total infarction volume of >0.48 cm3 (OR 4.4, 95% CI 1.05–18.58, p = .043) were related to vertigo. In another multivariate logistic regression, after adjusting for age, sex, intravenous thrombolysis, serum level of white blood cells, and atrial fibrillation, vertigo independently predicted a total infarction volume of >0.48 cm3 (OR 5.75, 95% CI 1.43–23.08, p = .01). Conclusion Infarction location in the cerebellum and/or dorsal brainstem is an independent predictor of vertigo. Furthermore, larger infarction volume in these structures is associated with vertigo. A considerable proportion of patients with vascular vertigo present without focal neurological deficits posing a diagnostic challenge. National Institute of Health Stroke Scale is not sensitive for vertebrobasilar stroke. KW - brain stem KW - cerebellum KW - infarction volume KW - stroke KW - vertebrobasilar insufficiency KW - vertigo Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218047 VL - 10 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beyer, Felix A1 - Jadasz, Janusz A1 - Samper Agrelo, Iria A1 - Schira‐Heinen, Jessica A1 - Groh, Janos A1 - Manousi, Anastasia A1 - Bütermann, Christine A1 - Estrada, Veronica A1 - Reiche, Laura A1 - Cantone, Martina A1 - Vera, Julio A1 - Viganò, Francesca A1 - Dimou, Leda A1 - Müller, Hans Werner A1 - Hartung, Hans‐Peter A1 - Küry, Patrick T1 - Heterogeneous fate choice of genetically modulated adult neural stem cells in gray and white matter of the central nervous system JF - Glia N2 - Apart from dedicated oligodendroglial progenitor cells, adult neural stem cells (aNSCs) can also give rise to new oligodendrocytes in the adult central nervous system (CNS). This process mainly confers myelinating glial cell replacement in pathological situations and can hence contribute to glial heterogeneity. Our previous studies demonstrated that the p57kip2 gene encodes an intrinsic regulator of glial fate acquisition and we here investigated to what degree its modulation can affect stem cell‐dependent oligodendrogenesis in different CNS environments. We therefore transplanted p57kip2 knockdown aNSCs into white and gray matter (WM and GM) regions of the mouse brain, into uninjured spinal cords as well as in the vicinity of spinal cord injuries and evaluated integration and differentiation in vivo. Our experiments revealed that under healthy conditions intrinsic suppression of p57kip2 as well as WM localization promote differentiation toward myelinating oligodendrocytes at the expense of astrocyte generation. Moreover, p57kip2 knockdown conferred a strong benefit on cell survival augmenting net oligodendrocyte generation. In the vicinity of hemisectioned spinal cords, the gene knockdown led to a similar induction of oligodendroglial features; however, newly generated oligodendrocytes appeared to suffer more from the hostile environment. This study contributes to our understanding of mechanisms of adult oligodendrogenesis and glial heterogeneity and further reveals critical factors when considering aNSC mediated cell replacement in injury and disease. KW - glial fate modulation KW - myelin KW - neural stem cell KW - p57kip2 KW - regional heterogeneity KW - spinal cord injury KW - transplantation Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218566 VL - 68 IS - 2 SP - 393 EP - 406 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jovanovic, Ana A1 - Klassen, Philipp A1 - Heuschmann, Peter A1 - Sommer, Claudia A1 - Roberts, Mark A1 - Üçeyler, Nurcan T1 - English version of the self-administered Fabry Pain Questionnaire for adult patients JF - Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases N2 - Background Pain is an early symptom of Fabry disease (FD) and is characterized by a unique phenotype with mainly episodic acral and triggerable burning pain. Recently, we designed and validated the first pain questionnaire for adult FD patients in an interview and a self-administered version in German: the Wurzburg Fabry Pain Questionnaire (FPQ). We now report the validation of the English version of the self-administered FPQ (enFPQ). Methods After two forward-backward translations of the FPQ by native German and native English speakers, the enFPQ was applied at The Mark Holland Metabolic Unit, Manchester, UK for validation. Consecutive patients with genetically ascertained FD and current or previous FD pain underwent a face-to-face interview using the enFPQ. Two weeks later, patients filled in the self-administered enFPQ at home. The agreement between entries collected by supervised administration and self-administration of the enFPQ was assessed via Gwet's AC1-statistics (AC1) for nominal-scaled scores and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for interval-scaled elements. Results Eighty-three FD patients underwent the face-to-face interview and 54 patients sent back a completed self-administered version of the enFPQ 2 weeks later. We found high agreement with a mean AC1-statistics of 0.725 for 55 items, and very high agreement with a mean ICC of 0.811 for 9 items. Conclusions We provide the validated English version of the FPQ for self-administration in adult FD patients. The enFPQ collects detailed information on the individual FD pain phenotype and thus builds a solid basis for better pain classification and treatment in patients with FD. KW - Fabry disease KW - Fabry-associated pain KW - Pain questionnaire KW - English version Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230298 VL - 15 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Isaias, Ioannis U. A1 - Brumberg, Joachim A1 - Pozzi, Nicoló G. A1 - Palmisano, Chiara A1 - Canessa, Andrea A1 - Marotta, Giogio A1 - Volkmann, Jens A1 - Pezzoli, Gianni T1 - Brain metabolic alterations herald falls in patients with Parkinson's disease JF - Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology N2 - Pathophysiological understanding of gait and balance disorders in Parkinson’s disease is insufficient and late recognition of fall risk limits efficacious followup to prevent or delay falls. We show a distinctive reduction of glucose metabolism in the left posterior parietal cortex, with increased metabolic activity in the cerebellum, in parkinsonian patients 6–8 months before their first fall episode. Falls in Parkinson’s disease may arise from altered cortical processing of body spatial orientation, possibly predicted by abnormal cortical metabolism. KW - Parkionson's disease KW - brain metabolic alterations Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-235982 VL - 7 IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Capetian, Philipp A1 - Müller, Lorenz A1 - Volkmann, Jens A1 - Heckmann, Manfred A1 - Ergün, Süleyman A1 - Wagner, Nicole T1 - Visualizing the synaptic and cellular ultrastructure in neurons differentiated from human induced neural stem cells - an optimized protocol JF - International Journal of Molecular Sciences N2 - The size of the synaptic subcomponents falls below the limits of visible light microscopy. Despite new developments in advanced microscopy techniques, the resolution of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) remains unsurpassed. The requirements of tissue preservation are very high, and human post mortem material often does not offer adequate quality. However, new reprogramming techniques that generate human neurons in vitro provide samples that can easily fulfill these requirements. The objective of this study was to identify the culture technique with the best ultrastructural preservation in combination with the best embedding and contrasting technique for visualizing neuronal elements. Two induced neural stem cell lines derived from healthy control subjects underwent differentiation either adherent on glass coverslips, embedded in a droplet of highly concentrated Matrigel, or as a compact neurosphere. Afterward, they were fixed using a combination of glutaraldehyde (GA) and paraformaldehyde (PFA) followed by three approaches (standard stain, Ruthenium red stain, high contrast en-bloc stain) using different combinations of membrane enhancing and contrasting steps before ultrathin sectioning and imaging by TEM. The compact free-floating neurospheres exhibited the best ultrastructural preservation. High-contrast en-bloc stain offered particularly sharp staining of membrane structures and the highest quality visualization of neuronal structures. In conclusion, compact neurospheres growing under free-floating conditions in combination with a high contrast en-bloc staining protocol, offer the optimal preservation and contrast with a particular focus on visualizing membrane structures as required for analyzing synaptic structures. KW - transmission electron microscopy KW - human neurons KW - induced neural stem cells KW - synapse KW - synaptic vesicles KW - high contrast Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-236053 SN - 1422-0067 VL - 21 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Berve, Kristina A1 - West, Brian L. A1 - Martini, Rudolf A1 - Groh, Janos T1 - Sex- and region-biased depletion of microglia/macrophages attenuates CLN1 disease in mice JF - Journal of Neuroinflammation N2 - Background The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (CLN diseases) are fatal lysosomal storage diseases causing neurodegeneration in the CNS. We have previously shown that neuroinflammation comprising innate and adaptive immune reactions drives axonal damage and neuron loss in the CNS of palmitoyl protein thioesterase 1-deficient (Ppt1\(^{-/-}\)) mice, a model of the infantile form of the diseases (CLN1). Therefore, we here explore whether pharmacological targeting of innate immune cells modifies disease outcome in CLN1 mice. Methods We applied treatment with PLX3397 (150 ppm in the chow), a potent inhibitor of the colony stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF-1R) to target innate immune cells in CLN1 mice. Experimental long-term treatment was non-invasively monitored by longitudinal optical coherence tomography and rotarod analysis, as well as analysis of visual acuity, myoclonic jerks, and survival. Treatment effects regarding neuroinflammation, neural damage, and neurodegeneration were subsequently analyzed by histology and immunohistochemistry. Results We show that PLX3397 treatment attenuates neuroinflammation in CLN1 mice by depleting pro-inflammatory microglia/macrophages. This leads to a reduction of T lymphocyte recruitment, an amelioration of axon damage and neuron loss in the retinotectal system, as well as reduced thinning of the inner retina and total brain atrophy. Accordingly, long-term treatment with the inhibitor also ameliorates clinical outcomes in CLN1 mice, such as impaired motor coordination, visual acuity, and myoclonic jerks. However, we detected a sex- and region-biased efficacy of CSF-1R inhibition, with male microglia/macrophages showing higher responsiveness toward depletion, especially in the gray matter of the CNS. This results in a better treatment outcome in male Ppt1\(^{-/-}\) mice regarding some histopathological and clinical readouts and reflects heterogeneity of innate immune reactions in the diseased CNS. Conclusions Our results demonstrate a detrimental impact of innate immune reactions in the CNS of CLN1 mice. These findings provide insights into CLN pathogenesis and may guide in the design of immunomodulatory treatment strategies. KW - Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis KW - Microglia KW - Macrophages KW - T lymphocytes KW - Neurodegeneration KW - Axon degeneration Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230234 VL - 17 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rickert, V. A1 - Wagenhäuser, L. A1 - Nordbeck, P. A1 - Wanner, C. A1 - Sommer, C. A1 - Rost, S. A1 - Üçeyler, N. T1 - Stratification of Fabry mutations in clinical practice: a closer look at α‐galactosidase A‐3D structure JF - Journal of Internal Medicine N2 - Background Fabry disease (FD) is an X‐linked lysosomal storage and multi‐system disorder due to mutations in the α‐galactosidase A (α‐GalA) gene. We investigated the impact of individual amino acid exchanges in the α‐GalA 3D‐structure on the clinical phenotype of FD patients. Patients and methods We enrolled 80 adult FD patients with α‐GalA missense mutations and stratified them into three groups based on the amino acid exchange location in the α‐GalA 3D‐structure: patients with active site mutations, buried mutations and other mutations. Patient subgroups were deep phenotyped for clinical and laboratory parameters and FD‐specific treatment. Results Patients with active site or buried mutations showed a severe phenotype with multi‐organ involvement and early disease manifestation. Patients with other mutations had a milder phenotype with less organ impairment and later disease onset. α‐GalA activity was lower in patients with active site or buried mutations than in those with other mutations (P < 0.01 in men; P < 0.05 in women) whilst lyso‐Gb3 levels were higher (P < 0.01 in men; <0.05 in women). Conclusions The type of amino acid exchange location in the α‐GalA 3D‐structure determines disease severity and temporal course of symptom onset. Patient stratification using this parameter may become a useful tool in the management of FD patients. KW - Fabry disease KW - Fabry genotype KW - Fabry phenotype KW - lyso‐Gb3 KW - α‐GalA 3D‐structure Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218125 VL - 288 IS - 5 SP - 593 EP - 604 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Palmisano, Chiara A1 - Brandt, Gregor A1 - Vissani, Matteo A1 - Pozzi, Nicoló G. A1 - Canessa, Andrea A1 - Brumberg, Joachim A1 - Marotta, Giorgio A1 - Volkmann, Jens A1 - Mazzoni, Alberto A1 - Pezzoli, Gianni A1 - Frigo, Carlo A. A1 - Isaias, Ioannis U. T1 - Gait Initiation in Parkinson’s Disease: Impact of Dopamine Depletion and Initial Stance Condition JF - Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology N2 - Postural instability, in particular at gait initiation (GI), and resulting falls are a major determinant of poor quality of life in subjects with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Still, the contribution of the basal ganglia and dopamine on the feedforward postural control associated with this motor task is poorly known. In addition, the influence of anthropometric measures (AM) and initial stance condition on GI has never been consistently assessed. The biomechanical resultants of anticipatory postural adjustments contributing to GI [imbalance (IMB), unloading (UNL), and stepping phase) were studied in 26 unmedicated subjects with idiopathic PD and in 27 healthy subjects. A subset of 13 patients was analyzed under standardized medication conditions and the striatal dopaminergic innervation was studied in 22 patients using FP-CIT and SPECT. People with PD showed a significant reduction in center of pressure (CoP) displacement and velocity during the IMB phase, reduced first step length and velocity, and decreased velocity and acceleration of the center of mass (CoM) at toe off of the stance foot. All these measurements correlated with the dopaminergic innervation of the putamen and substantially improved with levodopa. These results were not influenced by anthropometric parameters or by the initial stance condition. In contrast, most of the measurements of the UNL phase were influenced by the foot placement and did not correlate with putaminal dopaminergic innervation. Our results suggest a significant role of dopamine and the putamen particularly in the elaboration of the IMB phase of anticipatory postural adjustments and in the execution of the first step. The basal ganglia circuitry may contribute to defining the optimal referent body configuration for a proper initiation of gait and possibly gait adaptation to the environment. KW - gait initiation KW - Parkinson’s disease KW - basal ganglia KW - dopamine KW - base of support KW - anthropometric measurements Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200801 SN - 2296-4185 VL - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Appeltshauser, Luise A1 - Brunder, Anna-Michelle A1 - Heinius, Annika A1 - Körtvélyessy, Peter A1 - Wandinger, Klaus-Peter A1 - Junker, Ralf A1 - Villmann, Carmen A1 - Sommer, Claudia A1 - Leypoldt, Frank A1 - Doppler, Kathrin T1 - Antiparanodal antibodies and IgG subclasses in acute autoimmune neuropathy JF - Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation N2 - Objective To determine whether IgG subclasses of antiparanodal autoantibodies are related to disease course and treatment response in acute- to subacute-onset neuropathies, we retrospectively screened 161 baseline serum/CSF samples and 66 follow-up serum/CSF samples. Methods We used ELISA and immunofluorescence assays to detect antiparanodal IgG and their subclasses and titers in serum/CSF of patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), recurrent GBS (R-GBS), Miller-Fisher syndrome, and acute- to subacute-onset chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (A-CIDP). We evaluated clinical data retrospectively. Results We detected antiparanodal autoantibodies with a prevalence of 4.3% (7/161), more often in A-CIDP (4/23, 17.4%) compared with GBS (3/114, 2.6%). Longitudinal subclass analysis in the patients with GBS revealed IgG2/3 autoantibodies against Caspr-1 and against anti-contactin-1/Caspr-1, which disappeared at remission. At disease onset, patients with A-CIDP had IgG2/3 anti-Caspr-1 and anti-contactin-1/Caspr-1 or IgG4 anti-contactin-1 antibodies, IgG3 being associated with good response to IV immunoglobulins (IVIg). In the chronic phase of disease, IgG subclass of one patient with A-CIDP switched from IgG3 to IgG4. Conclusion Our data (1) confirm and extend previous observations that antiparanodal IgG2/3 but not IgG4 antibodies can occur in acute-onset neuropathies manifesting as monophasic GBS, (2) suggest association of IgG3 to a favorable response to IVIg, and (3) lend support to the hypothesis that in some patients, an IgG subclass switch from IgG3 to IgG4 may be the correlate of a secondary progressive or relapsing course following a GBS-like onset. KW - Guillain-Barre-Syndrome KW - inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy KW - musk myasthenia gravis KW - periperal nerve KW - neurofascin KW - autoantibodies KW - ontactin 1 KW - biopsies KW - binding KW - switch Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230079 VL - 7 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stengel, Felix A1 - Vulinovic, Franca A1 - Meier, Britta A1 - Grütz, Karen A1 - Klein, Christine A1 - Capetian, Philipp T1 - Impaired differentiation of human induced neural stem cells by TOR1A overexpression JF - Molecular Biology Reports N2 - DYT-TOR1A is the most common inherited dystonia caused by a three nucleotide (GAG) deletion (dE) in the TOR1A gene. Death early after birth and cortical anomalies of the full knockout in rodents underscore its developmental importance. We therefore explored the timed effects of TOR1A-wt and TOR1A-dE during differentiation in a human neural in vitro model. We used lentiviral tet-ON expression of TOR1A-wt and -dE in induced neural stem cells derived from healthy donors. Overexpression was induced during proliferation of neural precursors, during differentiation and after differentiation into mature neurons. Overexpression of both wildtype and mutated protein had no effect on the viability and cell number of neural precursors as well as mature neurons when initiated before or after differentiation. However, if induced during differentiation, overexpression of TOR1A-wt and -dE led to a pronounced reduction of mature neurons in a dose dependent manner. Our data underscores the importance of physiological expression levels of TOR1A as crucial for proper neuronal differentiation. We did not find evidence for a specific impact of the mutated TOR1A on neuronal maturation. KW - dystonia KW - DYT1 KW - torsinA KW - TOR1A KW - neuronal stem cells KW - neuronal differentiation KW - inducible expression Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-241177 UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-020-05390-x VL - 47 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Evdokimov, Dimitar A1 - Dinkel, Philine A1 - Frank, Johanna A1 - Sommer, Claudia A1 - Üçeyler, Nurcan T1 - Characterization of dermal skin innervation in fibromyalgia syndrome JF - PLoS One N2 - Introduction We characterized dermal innervation in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) as potential contribution to small fiber pathology. Methods Skin biopsies of the calf were collected (86 FMS patients, 35 healthy controls). Skin was immunoreacted with antibodies against protein gene product 9.5, calcitonine gene-related peptide, substance P, CD31, and neurofilament 200 for small fiber subtypes. We assessed two skin sections per patient; on each skin section, two dermal areas (150 x 700 mu m each) were investigated for dermal nerve fiber length (DNFL). Results In FMS patients we found reduced DNFL of fibers with vessel contact compared to healthy controls (p<0.05). There were no differences for the other nerve fiber subtypes. Discussion We found less dermal nerve fibers in contact with blood vessels in FMS patients than in controls. The pathophysiological relevance of this finding is unclear, but we suggest the possibility of a relationship with impaired thermal tolerance commonly reported by FMS patients. KW - nerve-fibers KW - cutaneous innervation KW - substance-P KW - pain KW - classification KW - reinnervation KW - expression KW - diagnosis KW - epidermis KW - criteria Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-229299 VL - 15 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Elhfnawy, Ahmed Mohamed A1 - Elsalamawy, Doaa A1 - Abdelraouf, Mervat A1 - Schliesser, Mira A1 - Volkmann, Jens A1 - Fluri, Felix T1 - Red flags for a concomitant giant cell arteritis in patients with vertebrobasilar stroke: a cross-sectional study and systematic review JF - Acta Neurologica Belgica N2 - Giant cell arteritis (GCA) may affect the brain-supplying arteries, resulting in ischemic stroke, whereby the vertebrobasilar territory is most often involved. Since etiology is unknown in 25% of stroke patients and GCA is hardly considered as a cause, we examined in a pilot study, whether screening for GCA after vertebrobasilar stroke might unmask an otherwise missed disease. Consecutive patients with vertebrobasilar stroke were prospectively screened for GCA using erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), hemoglobin, and halo sign of the temporal and vertebral artery on ultrasound. Furthermore, we conducted a systematic literature review for relevant studies. Sixty-five patients were included, and two patients (3.1%) were diagnosed with GCA. Patients with GCA were older in age (median 85 versus 69 years, p = 0.02). ESR and CRP were significantly increased and hemoglobin was significantly lower in GCA patients compared to non-GCA patients (median, 75 versus 11 mm in 1 h, p = 0.001; 3.84 versus 0.25 mg/dl, p = 0.01, 10.4 versus 14.6 mg/dl, p = 0.003, respectively). Multiple stenoses/occlusions in the vertebrobasilar territory affected our two GCA patients (100%), but only five (7.9%) non-GCA patients (p = 0.01). Our literature review identified 13 articles with 136 stroke patients with concomitant GCA. Those were old in age. Headache, increased inflammatory markers, and anemia were frequently reported. Multiple stenoses/occlusions in the vertebrobasilar territory affected around 70% of stroke patients with GCA. Increased inflammatory markers, older age, anemia, and multiple stenoses/occlusions in the vertebrobasilar territory may be regarded as red flags for GCA among patients with vertebrobasilar stroke. KW - giant cell arteritis KW - vertebrobasilar stroke KW - blood sedimentation KW - C-reactive protein KW - hemoglobin KW - stenosis Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-315610 SN - 0300-9009 SN - 2240-2993 VL - 120 IS - 6 ER -