Chlorpropamide in Parkinson's Disease

disease includes the following observations, but their significance is not yet clear: (1) There is evidence of a connection between abnormal glucose tolerance and post' encephalitic Parkinson's disease (Gillhespy and Paton, i960; Terrana and Adragn^ 1951). McCowan, Harris and Mann (1926) give glucose tolerance curves for a group of patients with post-encephalitic Parkinsonism which are clearly diabetic in type. (2) Electrocoagulation in the basal ganglia in a diabetic with Parkinson's disease ameliorated both conditions (Gillingham, Watson, Donaldson and Naughton, 1960)(3) In 1958 a diabetic with Parkinson's disease showed improvement of both condi' tions when started on Tolbutamide (Gates and Hyman, 1958), and these authors late1 found that cases of Parkinson's disease without diabetes also improved. A subsequefl1 double-blind trial did not confirm this (Heller, Dejong and Magee, 1961). (4) Dresel and Lewy (1921) described lesions in the globus pallidus in four diabetic5 who died in diabetic coma. Bodechtel and Erbsloh (1958) agree that changes do occ^ in the globus pallidus in diabetes, but suggest that they are not specific for diabeteft and are found elsewhere in the brain.