Enteric neurons from Parkinson's disease patients display ex vivo aberrations in mitochondrial structure.

ABSTRACT: Based on autopsy material mitochondrial dysfunction has been proposed being part of the pathophysiological cascade of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, in living patients, evidence for such dysfunction is scarce. As the disease presumably starts at the enteric level, we studied ganglionic and mitochondrial morphometrics of enteric neurons. We compared 65 ganglia from 11 PD patients without intestinal symptoms and 41 ganglia from 4 age-matched control subjects. We found that colon ganglia from PD patients had smaller volume, contained significantly more mitochondria per ganglion volume, and displayed a higher total mitochondrial mass relative to controls. This suggests involvement of mitochondrial dysfunction in PD at the enteric level. Moreover, in PD patients the mean mitochondrial volum

SUBMITTER: Baumuratov AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5021970 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature