News
and Research Articles About
Tourette Syndrome
The
following news article was published by WFLA
Channel 8, a television station in West
Florida. It appeared on "Irene
Maher's" Medical Report. The url for
the same story you will read below is http://wfla.com/health/279.htm
Tourette's
Drug - by Irene Maher
Researchers at
the University of South Florida report a medical
breakthrough in the treatment of Tourette's
syndrome. It's a disorder that causes
involuntary movement, known as tics, and verbal
outbursts. A USF team found an old medication,
long since shelved for high blood pressure,
brought relief from the symptoms of Tourette's.
----------
12 year old Tyler Whitworth is back up to speed
ever since starting a new medication for
Tourette's syndrome. Tyler developed a mild case
of this neurological disorder about five years
ago. It caused excessive, involuntary eye
blinking and lots of trouble with his school
work. Then the Whitworth's enrolled Tyler in a
USF study putting an old drug to new use.
---Debra Whitworth, Tyler's Mom: "It was an
immediate, you know, immediate response.. within
the first week."---
The medication that made such a difference is
called Mecamylamine.. popular in 1950's for
hypertension, but considered obsolete by the
mid-70's. USF's Dr.Archie Silver already knew
nicotine patches, which help people stop
smoking, also relieved the symptoms of
Tourette's. So, USF researchers began looking
for an existing drug that would do the same
thing. That's when they stumbled on Mecamylamine.
---Dr.Archie Silver, USF Psychiatry: "It
seems to work by inhibiting certain receptors in
the brain it stopped them."----
According to his parents, the difference in
Tyler was dramatic.
---Clay Whitworth, Tyler's Father: "He was
just calm, he was focused he was on task again,
life became pleasant at home, I use the analogy,
we have out son back."---
Tyler takes two pills once a day.. they help the
physical symptoms and his school work improved.
---Irene: "What happened with your grades?
---Tyler Whitworth, Patients: "They went
way up. I had D's and F's, now I have A's and
B's."---
Dr.Silver expects Mecamylamine to be back in
production and available for further study by
the end of this summer. For more information
call The Center for Infant and Child Development
at USF at 813-974-1516.
Nicotine
& Tourette's
As
reported by KING Channel 5 in Seattle,
Washington by news anchor
Ms. Julie Francavilla
url
for article: http://nbcin.king5.com/news/medical/tourettes.php3
"Researchers
from the University of South Florida found
nicotine patches boost the effectiveness of
drugs given to relieve the tics, verbal
outbursts and hyperactivity of children
afflicted with Tourette’s syndrome. They
followed patients ranging in age from nine to 15
who responded poorly to haloperidol (Haldol) or
other drugs commonly given to treat Tourette’s.
When the drug was combined with a low dose
nicotine patch, the benefits of the medication
increased an average of 45 percent. Patients
wore the patch for 24 hours, then removed it.
Relief from symptoms occured within three hours
of administering the patch and was maintained up
to 10 days after the patch was removed.
It is still
unclear why nicotine reduces the involuntary
movements of Tourette’s, but researchers
suspect it may somehow turn off the activity of
a specific brain receptor that may be involved
in the brain chemistry of people with Tourette’s.
In many cases, nicotine and medications for
Tourette’s can gradually be decreased or
stopped by the time a patient reaches age 20.
Studies showed the patch was effective in
controlling symptoms 80 percent of the time.
The nicotine is
delivered to the patient through a patch. This
allows it to be absorbed into the blood in a way
that is different than if taken by smoking or by
chewing gum. The levels in the blood rise
gradually and reach the maximum level in about
three hours. It then gradually decreases over 24
hours. The patch used in the study contains
seven milligrams of nicotine, similar to the
nicotine patches available in the story."
 
Nicoderm CQ Step
1 Nicotine Transdermal System Patches 7 ea
For more
information, contact:
Archie A. Silver, M.D.
USF Physicians Group
3515 E. Fletcher Ave. MDC 14
Tampa, FL 33613
(813) 974-1516
The following is
an excerpt taken from an excellent article
written by reporter John Schwartz of the
Washington Post.
A
Cigarette Chemical Packed With Helpful Effects?
By John
Schwartz
Washington Post
Staff Writer
Monday,
November 9, 1998; Page A03
full article can
be found at the following url
http://stylelive.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/tobacco/stories/nicotine110998.htm
Excerpt follows .
. . .
"Paul R.
Sanberg, professor and chair of neuroscience at
the University of South Florida, said about 80
percent of his patients in a study of nicotine
patches for Tourette's syndrome, a neurological
disorder marked by uncontrollable tics, have
"shown improvement in both decreasing the
frequency and the intensity of the tics"
with long-term effects. In a seeming paradox,
giving patients drugs that block the action of
nicotine also seems to lessen their Tourette's
symptoms. No one yet knows why, but it may be
because nicotine desensitizes receptors it works
on -- in effect making it its own blocker.
Other medical
mysteries await researchers. The exceptionally
high rates of smoking among people afflicted
with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD), depression and schizophrenia suggest
that nicotine and similar chemicals might
provide some relief. Studies have already shown
an improvement in cognitive ability among
schizophrenics and a greater ability to focus
among ADHD patients who wear a nicotine patch.
Abbott
Laboratories is working with researchers at the
National Institutes of Health to study a
nicotine-like drug from the skin of Amazonian
frogs used for poison darts that is, in smaller
doses, a highly effective painkiller. And Esther
Sabban at New York University Medical College is
exploring the role of nicotine in relieving the
ill effects of stress on the body.
But what about
addiction? Sanberg said he has given nicotine in
patch form to children as young as 8 who suffer
from Tourette's. "There were clearly people
that didn't like the idea of giving their
children nicotine and the thought that maybe
they could get addicted or start smoking,"
he said. Nicotine in patch and gum form does not
appear to carry the risk of addiction that
smoking does, Sanberg said: In cigarettes, the
first puff sends a potent jolt of the drug
directly to the brain in about eight seconds,
while patches and gum work far more slowly and
consistently. "We haven't seen any
addiction," Sanberg said.
Compared with the
usual treatments for the disease, including
potent antipsychotic drugs with side effects
that can be severe, parents generally opt for
the nicotine treatment, Sanberg said."
More
About Dr. Sanberg's Work, Tourette's, Nicotine
and Mecamylamine
An excerpt from a
paper written by Mr. John A. Rosecrans and
published in Chemistry and Industry Magazine
July 6, 1998. His article was
titled: Nicotine: Helping those who
help themselves?
For complete
paper, visit http://www.junkscience.com/news2/nicotine.htm
Paul Sanberg at
the University of South Florida gave a nicotine
patch or gum (7mg or 2mg, respectively) to an
adolescent Tourette's sufferer. The nicotine
reduced the movement and speech syndrome within
minutes. Interestingly, the nicotine patch
attenuated the movement disorder for several
days after a single application. While nicotine
appears to be effective in treating Tourette's
syndrome, these researchers suggest that the
best use of the nicotine patch at this point is
as an adjunct to anti-psychotic treatment
(rather than using nicotine alone), until more
research is conducted.
Nicotine's
success here may be a result of its unusual mode
of action. When it binds to the nicotine
receptors in the brain (actually members of the
family of receptors sensitive to the
neurotransmitter acetylcholine) it first
activates them and then desensitises them,
effectively turning them off (see Figure 2).1
In addition, the ability of nicotine to activate
or desensitise a receptor may also depend on the
receptor's activity at the time the nicotine is
administered or gets to the receptor. Thus,
nicotine may tend to activate the receptor if it
is inactive (as it is if there is little
acetylcholine present at the receptor). On the
other hand, nicotine may deactivate (desensitise)
the receptor when it is very active because of a
high level of acetylcholine at the receptor.
Thus, nicotine may be acting to normalise the
receptor in a way analogous to the observations
of nicotine's action on 'high' or 'low' aroused
rat behaviour.
If we take this
hypothesis a little further and assume that
Tourette's syndrome results from an
overproduction of a neurotransmitter such as
dopamine, then nicotine could be acting to
stabilise the dopamine nerve cell by its ability
to desensitise nicotinic receptors located on
it.2 Stabilization or shutting
down an overproduction of dopamine could explain
why nicotine is working in this syndrome,
assuming dopamine is the culprit.
More recent
research by the same group, has shown that
mecamylamine (which blocks the action of
nicotine) is also effective in reducing
Tourette's symptoms.3 At first
glance, this drug would not be expected to have
this effect, as it would act at the same
nicotinic receptor - in other words, the
receptor would have to be activated to get the
same effect. The reason mecamylamine is working,
however, is the fact that it is not inducing
nicotine blockade by acting at the receptor, but
can block nicotine by acting directly in the
channel - clogging it up.. Thus, mecamylamine is
having the same effect as nicotine but is
working at a different site. This is an
important study as it provides additional
support for the contention that nicotine (as
well as mecamylamine) is stabilising an
overactive nerve cell which releases dopamine.
- Marks, M.J.,
Busch, J.B., & Collins, A.C., J.
Pharmacol. Exp. Therap., 1983, 226,
554-64
- Rosecrans,
J.A., & Karan, L., J. Subst.
Abuse Res., 1992, 10, 161-70
- Shytle,
R.D., Silver, A.A., & Sanberg, P.R.,
Poster presented at the International
Behavioural Neuroscience Society Annual
Meeting, 11-14 June 1998, Richmond, VA,
US
The following
articles about Tourette Syndrome represent some
of the most interesting Tourette news and
research articles I have found on the
Internet. Two primary reasons is that they
shed new light on the disorder and contain
information that may be useful to anyone trying
to help themselves or others reduce the
frequency and degree of their tics.
EEG
Biofeedback Training for Tourette Syndrome
A
simple and a complex tic (Gilles de la
Tourette's syndrome): their response to EEG
sensorimotor rhythm biofeedback training
"the simple and the complex tic, both of
long duration, were eliminated via this EEG
biofeedback training procedure. It is
hypothesized that this exercising of the
sensorimotor cortex resulted in increased
activation of this cerebrocortical subsystem and
was reflected in increased voluntary muscle
control and a heightened threshold for random
motor discharge, resulting in the elimination of
both tics"
Ziprasidone
treatment of children and adolescents with
Tourette's syndrome: a pilot study.
"CONCLUSIONS: In this limited sample,
ziprasidone (5-40 mg/day) appears to be
effective and well tolerated in the treatment of
Tourette's syndrome. Ziprasidone may be
associated with a lower risk of extrapyramidal
side effects in children. However, additional
studies are necessary to evaluate more fully its
safety and efficacy in children with tic
disorders."
[Anti-neuronal
antibodies and central nervous system diseases:
contribution to diagnosis and
pathophysiology].antibodies are described in
diverse conditions such as amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis,
"antibodies are described in diverse
conditions such as amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis, Sydeham chorea or Gilles de
la Tourette syndrome. The significance of the
antibodies observed outside the context of
paraneoplastic syndromes is not well understood,
but the anti-GAD antibodies associated with
progressive cerebellar disorders and autoimmune
polyendocrinopathies could be an expression of
the autoimmune nature of certain neurological
degenerative processes affecting the central
nervous system."
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