Mitochondrial abnormality associates with type-specific neuronal loss and cell morphology changes in the pedunculopontine nucleus in Parkinson disease.

ABSTRACT: Cholinergic neuronal loss in the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) associates with abnormal functions, including certain motor and nonmotor symptoms. This realization has led to low-frequency stimulation of the PPN for treating patients with Parkinson disease (PD) who are refractory to other treatment modalities. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying PPN neuronal loss and the therapeutic substrate for the clinical benefits following PPN stimulation remain poorly characterized, hampering progress toward designing more efficient therapies aimed at restoring the PPN's normal functions during progressive parkinsonism. Here, we investigated postmortem pathological changes in the PPN of PD cases. Our study detected a loss of neurons producing gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) as their output an

SUBMITTER: Pienaar IS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4188170 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature