Table 1. Putamen catechols and catechol ratios in patients with Parkinson’s disease or multiple system atrophy and in control subjects.

Mean values expressed ±SEM. P values are for independent means t−tests.

Parameter	Patients	Controls	% of Control	p
DA	2.17 ± 0.73	18.43 ± 2.07	11.8%	0.0001
DOPAC	0.42 ± 0.16	2.47 ± 0.42	16.8%	<0.0001
DOPAL	0.07 ± 0.04	0.48 ± 0.11	14.0%	<0.0001
DOPET	0.006 ± 0.003	0.028 ± 0.007	20.3%	<0.0001
Cys-DA	0.031 ± 0.008	0.326 ± 0.041	9.6%	<0.0001
Vesicular Storage
DA/(DOPAC + Cys-DA + DOPAL + DOPET)	4.41 ± 0.55	8.15 ± 1.29	54.2%	0.001
DA/Cys-DA	47.1 ± 6.1	63.3 ± 5.5	74.4%	0.005
DA/DOPAL	39.1 ± 9.7a	74.8 ± 15.4	52.3%	0.002
DA/DOPAC	6.2 ± 0.8	19.7 ± 8.3	31.2%	0.001
LAAAD Activity
(DA + DOPAC + Cys-DA + DOPAC + DOPAL + DOPET)/(DOPA + Cys-DOPA)	4.17 ± 1.55	20.06 ± 3.17	20.8%	<0.0001
Cys-DA/Cys-DOPA	0.92 ± 0.28	6.40 ± 1.06	14.4%	<0.0001
Cys-DA/DOPA	0.05 ± 0.01	0.32 ± 0.05	14.7%	<0.0001
DOPAC/DOPA	0.60 ± 0.23	2.11 ± 0.35	28.4%	<0.0001
TH Activity
DOPA + Cys-DOPA	1.18 ± 0.31	1.87 ± 0.37	63.1%	0.01
DOPA	1.13 ± 0.31	1.80 ± 0.36	63.1%	0.01
Cys-DOPA	0.05 ± 0.01	0.07 ± 0.01	70.9%	0.08
LAAAD and Vesicular Storage
DA/Cys-DOPA	77.5 ± 29.4	350.2 ± 47.9	22.1%	p< 0.0001
DA/DOPA	3.6 ± 1.4	18.5 ± 3.2	19.6%	p< 0.0001

^aData for 2 outliers excluded.