Gene expression within the periaqueductal gray is linked to vocal behavior and early-onset parkinsonism in Pink1 knockout rats.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a degenerative disease with early-stage pathology hypothesized to manifest in brainstem regions. Vocal deficits, including soft, monotone speech, result in significant clinical and quality of life issues and are present in 90% of PD patients; yet the underlying pathology mediating these significant voice deficits is unknown. The Pink1-/- rat is a valid model of early-onset PD that presents with analogous vocal communication deficits. Previous work shows abnormal α-synuclein protein aggregation in the periaqueductal gray (PAG), a brain region critical and necessary to the modulation of mammalian vocal behavior. In this study, we used high-throughput RNA sequencing to examine gene expression within the PAG of both male and female Pink1-/- rats a

SUBMITTER: Kelm-Nelson CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7495669 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature