The monoamine neurotransmitter disorders consist of a rapidly expanding heterogeneous group of neurological syndromes characterised by primary and secondary defects in the biosynthesis degradation, or transport of dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, and serotonin. Disease onset can occur any time from infancy onwards. Clinical presentation depends on the pattern and severity of neurotransmitter abnormalities, and is predominated by neurological features (encephalopathy, epilepsy, and pyramidal and extrapyramidal motor disorders) that are primarily attributed to deficiency of cerebral dopamine, serotonin, or both. Many neurotransmitter disorders mimic the phenotype of other neurological disorders (eg, cerebral palsy, hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy, paroxysmal disorders, inherited metabolic diseases, and genetic dystonic or parkinsonian syndromes) and are, therefore, frequently misdiagnosed. Early clinical suspicion and appropriate investigations, including analysis of neurotransmitters in CSF, are essential for accurate clinical diagnosis. Treatment strategies focus on the correction of monoamine deficiency by replacement of monoamine precursors, the use of monoamine analogues, inhibition of monoamine degradation, and addition of enzyme cofactors to promote monoamine production.

The monoamine neurotransmitter disorders: an expanding range of neurological syndromes

The system of assigning locus symbols to specify chromosomal regions that are associated with a familial disorder has a number of problems when used as a reference list of genetically determined disorders,including (I) erroneously assigned loci, (II) duplicated loci, (III) missing symbols or loci, (IV) unconfirmed loci and genes, (V) a combination of causative genes and risk factor genes in the same list, and (VI) discordance between phenotype and list assignment. In this article, we report on the recommendations of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society Task Force for Nomenclature of Genetic Movement Disorders and present a system for naming genetically determined movement disorders that addresses these problems. We demonstrate how the system would be applied to currently known genetically determined parkinsonism, dystonia, dominantly inherited ataxia, spastic paraparesis, chorea, paroxysmal movement disorders, neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation, and primary familial brain calcifications. This system provides a resource for clinicians and researchers that, unlike the previous system, can be considered an accurate and criterion-based list of confirmed genetically determined movement disorders at the time it was last updated.

Nomenclature of genetic movement disorders: Recommendations of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society task force

Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) is required for the synthesis of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. Children with defects in the AADC gene show compromised development, particularly in motor function. Drug therapy has only marginal effects on some of the symptoms and does not change early childhood mortality. Here, we performed adeno-associated viral vector-mediated gene transfer of the human AADC gene bilaterally into the putamen of four patients 4 to 6 years of age. All of the patients showed improvements in motor performance: One patient was able to stand 16 months after gene transfer, and the other three patients achieved supported sitting 6 to 15 months after gene transfer. Choreic dyskinesia was observed in all patients, but this resolved after several months. Positron emission tomography revealed increased uptake by the putamen of 6-[(18)F]fluorodopa, a tracer for AADC. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis showed increased dopamine and serotonin levels after gene transfer. Thus, gene therapy targeting primary AADC deficiency is well tolerated and leads to improved motor function.

Gene therapy for aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency.

Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency (AADCD) is a rare, autosomal recessive neurometabolic disorder that leads to a severe combined deficiency of serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine. Onset is early in life, and key clinical symptoms are hypotonia, movement disorders (oculogyric crisis, dystonia, and hypokinesia), developmental delay, and autonomic symptoms.In this consensus guideline, representatives of the International Working Group on Neurotransmitter Related Disorders (iNTD) and patient representatives evaluated all available evidence for diagnosis and treatment of AADCD and made recommendations using SIGN and GRADE methodology. In the face of limited definitive evidence, we constructed practical recommendations on clinical diagnosis, laboratory diagnosis, imaging and electroencephalograpy, medical treatments and non-medical treatments. Furthermore, we identified topics for further research. We believe this guideline will improve the care for AADCD patients around the world whilst promoting general awareness of this rare disease.

/pdf/consensus-guideline-for-the-diagnosis-and-treatment-of-4t8j0xguqo.pdf

Consensus guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency

We describe a disease encompassing infantile-onset movement disorder (including severe parkinsonism and nonambulation), mood disturbance, autonomic instability, and developmental delay, and we describe evidence supporting its causation by a mutation in SLC18A2 (which encodes vesicular monoamine transporter 2 [VMAT2]). VMAT2 translocates dopamine and serotonin into synaptic vesicles and is essential for motor control, stable mood, and autonomic function. Treatment with levodopa was associated with worsening, whereas treatment with direct dopamine agonists was followed by immediate ambulation, near-complete correction of the movement disorder, and resumption of development.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1207281

Brain dopamine-serotonin vesicular transport disease and its treatment.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the current treatment; clinical, biochemical, and molecular findings; and clinical follow-up of patients with aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency. METHOD: Clinical and biochemical data of 78 patients with AADC deficiency were tabulated in a database of pediatric neurotransmitter disorders (JAKE). A total of 46 patients have been previously reported; 32 patients are described for the first time. RESULTS: In 96% of AADC-deficient patients, symptoms (hypotonia 95%, oculogyric crises 86%, and developmental retardation 63%) became clinically evident during infancy or childhood. Laboratory diagnosis is based on typical CSF markers (low homovanillic acid, 5-hydroxyindoleacidic acid, and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenolglycole, and elevated 3-O-methyl-l-dopa, l-dopa, and 5-hydroxytryptophan), absent plasma AADC activity, or elevated urinary vanillactic acid. A total of 24 mutations in the DDC gene were detected in 49 patients (8 reported for the first time: p.L38P, p.Y79C, p.A110Q, p.G123R, p.I42fs, c.876G>A, p.R412W, p.I433fs) with IVS6+ 4A>T being the most common one (allele frequency 45%). CONCLUSION: Based on clinical symptoms, CSF neurotransmitters profile is highly indicative for the diagnosis of aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency. Treatment options are limited, in many cases not beneficial, and prognosis is uncertain. Only 15 patients with a relatively mild form clearly improved on a combined therapy with pyridoxine (B6)/pyridoxal phosphate, dopamine agonists, and monoamine oxidase B inhibitors.

Clinical and biochemical features of aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency.

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

H. Testard

Author Tools

Chat about Author

Papers

Clinical and biochemical features of aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency.