View clinical trials related to Multiple System Atrophy.
Filter by:Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a disorder of the nervous system of unclear cause. In MSA there is degeneration (progressive loss) of nerve cells in several brain and spinal cord regions. The result is a variety of symptoms, from physical (parkinsonism, ataxia, incoordination, falls, slowness) to autonomic (fainting, bladder incontinence, sexual dysfunction) to sleep problems (dream enactment, sleep apnea). This research aims to help us better understand the patterns and timing of nerve degeneration relatively early in the disease, and how this affects symptoms and progression. For instance: 1. Does MSA affect certain nerves that stimulate heart pumping? If so, does the severity of loss of heart nerves affect disease progression and survival? 2. It is thought that MSA does not affect memory and thinking much, unlike other diseases (such as Parkinson's). Is this accurate? Is there loss of nerves that transmit acetylcholine (a neurochemical important in mental functioning)? 3. What can we learn about mood and sleep in MSA, through visualizing the serotonin system in the brain? How does this relate to symptoms that subjects report in these often underappreciated areas? To answer these and other questions, investigators will take images of specific nerves in the brain and heart using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans. Such imaging gives us information that cannot be obtained from MRIs and CT scans. We will measure the levels of several nerve cell types: serotonin, acetylcholine, and norepinephrine. Subjects will also have many standardized assessments including quality-of-life and symptom assessments, neurological examination, autonomic assessments, neuropsychological assessments, coordination tests, and even assessments of vision and sense of smell. By pooling these results from many MSA patients, and comparing with other diseases (such as Parkinson's disease) we hope to gain a better understanding of what is happening early in MSA. Such knowledge could be very valuable in future efforts to develop better therapies in this rare disease.
MSA is a rapidly progressive disorder with an average survival time of about 7 years after the first clinical manifestation. No potent symptomatic treatment is currently available. A disease-modifying therapy does not exist either. The growing understanding in recent years of the underlying pathological mechanisms of the disease allows the development of new treatment options that have a modifying effect on the disease progression. Therefore, treatments are urgently required that effect the central underlying pathological mechanism, which appears to be the intracellular aggregation of toxic oligomers of α-synuclein. EGCG, a polyphenol found in green tea, has shown to inhibit the formation of toxic α-synuclein oligomers in vitro and has shown to transform α-synuclein-oligomers in non-toxic oligomer species. There is also evidence for a neuroprotective effect in MPTP-mouse models of PD and is an antioxidant and iron chelator. There are currently 63 clinical studies (http://clinicaltrial.gov) in which EGCG was applied for various indications, such as Multiple Sclerosis, various forms of cancer and Huntington's disease. All of which have shown good tolerability and safety with the applied doses of EGCG of up to 1200 mg per day, demonstrating the safety of the drug under controlled clinical conditions (see 5.3.1 for hepatotoxicity in uncontrolled conditions). These data provide a solid rationale for testing in a clinical trial if supplementation of EGCG can interfere with the core disease mechanism in MSA and consequently retard the clinical progression of the MSA-related disability.
This study is designed to determine if magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures can be used to diagnose and monitor the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD) while distinguishing between PD and parkinsonisms [conditions that are PD look-a-like diseases such as progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) or multiple system atrophy (MSA)] when combined with changes in certain proteins in body fluids that are related to iron (Fe).
Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a sporadic neurodegenerative disorder. MSA is dominated by autonomic/urogenital failure which may be associated with either Parkinsonism (MSA-P subtype) or with cerebellar ataxia (MSA-C subtype). The prognostic of this disease is bad because it ended with the patient's death few years later. No neuroprotective treatment has shown a real efficacy. 50% of patients suffering of MSA frequently experienced painful sensation. The origin of this pain is unknown. In Parkinson disease (PD) ; arguments suggest the implication of dopamine neuromediator pathway in integration and modulation of pain. Several studies suggest the existence of various influences with dopamine implication in the appearance of painful sensation and that would be inhibitory. That's why observed painful symptoms in MSA and PD could be due to a decrease of pain appearance threshold, secondary to a lost of control of sensitizes centres, to Parkinson control. It is interesting to determine if MSA as PD is responsible for a decrease of pain threshold and to characterise the levodopa effect on the patient's pain threshold. Better physiopathology knowledge of pain in MSA is necessary to improve the therapeutic care. Because the efficacy of others treatments is low, it's important to improve the research for a better comfort of patients with a better understanding, analysing and treating of the pain.
The main objectives are to determine on one hand whether oligomeric alpha-synuclein levels are increased in MSA patients compared to controls and on other hand whether there is a good agreement between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma levels.
The aim of this project is to develop an original biomarker for Parkinson's disease (PD) and other parkinsonian syndromes (multiple system atrophy and progressive supranuclear palsy) based upon the detection of pathological alpha-synuclein species in routine colonoscopic biopsies.
The autonomic or automatic nervous system helps control blood pressure. Diseases of the autonomic nervous system may result in a drop in blood pressure on standing in many cases leading to fainting. Diseases that affect the autonomic nervous system include pure autonomic failure, multiple system atrophy and Parkinson's disease, and can present with very similar symptoms and it is sometimes difficult to determine an exact diagnosis. The purpose of the study is to find out if the blood pressure response from taking a single dose of the medication atomoxetine can help in the diagnosis of these diseases.
The gut may be a portal of entry for agents that cause or contribute to the causes of Parkinson's disease (PD). The investigators are studying changes in the normal population of gut flora and in intestinal permeability and their associations with early PD.
This is a French national trial, conducted using a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised design involving 15 centers and 88 patients of both sexes. The primary objective of the trial is to evaluate the effect of a selective inhibitor of serotonin reuptake, the Fluoxétine, at a higher dose (40 mg/day) than usually recommended for depressed patients, after three months in patients suffering from an atypical Parkinson's disease called Multiple System Atrophy, compared to the placebo effect. Secondary objectives of the trial are the evaluation of the effects of Fluoxétine after six weeks at the dose of 20 mg/day, after six months at the dose of 40mg/day, and assess the effects on mortality, quality of life, autonomic disorders, particularly orthostatic hypotension, mood and others symptoms such as sleep, apathy, pain and fatigue.
Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a sporadic neurodegenerative disorder of the adult associated to a poor prognosis. MSA is clinically characterized by the association of extra-pyramidal, dysautonomic, cerebellar and pyramidal symptoms. Histological and biological studies have raised the hypothesis that, beside the well known dopamine deficiency, some of the symptoms could be related to a dysfunction in serotoninergic neurotransmission. Serotonin is involved in the modulation of several functions impaired in MSA, such as mood, motricity or sleep. The recent description of an association between loss of brainstem serotonin neurons and sudden death in patients with MSA reinforced the hypothesis of a critical role played by this neurotransmitter in the pathophysiology of this disease. Autoreceptors called 5-HT1a are strongly involved in the regulation of serotonin neurotransmission. During the last years several radio-ligands allowing in vivo PET quantification of 5-HT1a receptors, such as 18F-MPPF (4-(2'-methoxyphenyl)-1-[2'-(N-2''-piridinyl)-p-fluorobenzamide]methylpiperazine), were developed. Moreover, the investigators recently demonstrated the ability of this brain functional imaging method to investigate, in healthy volunteers, the functional properties of 5-HT1a autoreceptors through an evaluation of their desensitization after a single oral dose of fluoxetine.