Somatostatin in neurodegenerative illnesses.

Somatostatin may play a role in several neurodegenerative diseases. Somatostatin concentrations are depleted in cerebral cortex in both Alzheimer's disease and in the dementia that accompanies Parkinson's disease. Somatostatin neurons in both illnesses are markedly dystrophic and may be reduced in number. In Huntington's disease, somatostatin concentrations are increased in the basal ganglia, as is the density of somatostatin neurons. The precise role of somatostatin changes in the pathophysiology of these illnesses requires further study.