In patients with autosomal dominant spinocerebellar ataxia (AD SCA), the level of selenium in the blood serum was lower by a factor of 1.6 than the result obtained in the control group. There is a weak correlation between the severity of ataxia and selenium content in the blood serum of patients with AD SCA, which possibly suggests the participation of selenium in the pathogenesis of the disease. Given the decrease in selenium content in blood serum in patients with AD SCA, it is probably advisable to include selenium preparations in the symptomatic therapy for these patients.
The clinical picture of SCA1 in the Khabarovsk Region is characterized, along with cerebellar symptoms, by more frequent manifestations of pyramidal, extrapyramidal, cognitive, autonomic and psychiatric disorders. The age of patients was 34,1 ± 4,2 years, and the age of disease onset was 31,4 ± 2,3 years. The number of CAG-repeats in the ATXN1 gene varied from 43 to 63. The non-mutated ATXN1 gene in the Khabarovsk Region population contained 29,0 ± 0,4 CAG-repeats. The prevalence of SCA1 in the Khabarovsk Region was 1:100 000 of the population which corresponds to the world prevalence of 1–3:100 000 of the population.