Corpus Striatum ; Dopaminergic Neurons ; Humans ; Mesencephalon ; Parkinson Disease/drug therapy* ; Pars Compacta ; Substantia Nigra

No abstract available.
Animals ; Neurons* ; Oxidopamine* ; Rats* ; Substantia Nigra*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Immunohistochemistry* ; Neurons* ; Rats* ; Substantia Nigra*

Parkinson disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the selective loss of dopaminergic neurons from the substantia nigra pars compacta leading to the impairment of motor functions. Recent genetic studies have uncovered several genes involved in inherited forms of the disease. These gene products are likely to be implicated in the biochemical pathways underlying the etiology of sporadic PD. Our review discusses the pathogenetic mechanisms of the mutated genes.
Dopaminergic Neurons ; Genetics ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Parkinson Disease* ; Substantia Nigra

BACKGROUND: Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) has been used to measure iron accumulation in the deep nuclei of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). This study examined the relationship between non-motor symptoms (NMSs) and iron accumulation in the deep nuclei of patients with PD. METHODS: The QSM data were acquired from 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 29 patients with early PD and 19 normal controls. The Korean version of the NMS scale (K-NMSS) was used for evaluation of NMSs in patients. The patients were divided into high NMS and low NMS groups. The region-of-interest analyses were performed in the following deep nuclei: red nucleus, substantia nigra pars compacta, substantia nigra pars reticulata, dentate nucleus, globus pallidus, putamen, and head of the caudate nucleus. RESULTS: Thirteen patients had high NMS scores (total K-NMSS score, mean = 32.1), and 16 had low NMS scores (10.6). The QSM values in the deep were not different among the patients with high NMS scores, low NMS scores, and controls. The QSM values were not correlated linearly with K-NMSS total score after adjusting the age at acquisition of brain MRI. CONCLUSION: The study demonstrated that the NMS burdens are not associated with iron accumulation in the deep nuclei of patients with PD. These results suggest that future neuroimaging studies on the pathology of NMSs in PD should use more specific and detailed clinical tools and recruit PD patients with severe NMSs.
Basal Ganglia ; Brain ; Caudate Nucleus ; Cerebellar Nuclei ; Globus Pallidus ; Head ; Humans ; Iron* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neuroimaging ; Parkinson Disease* ; Pars Compacta ; Pars Reticulata ; Pathology ; Putamen ; Red Nucleus

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Previous T2 relaxometry studies have provided evidence for regional brain iron deficiency in patients with restless legs syndrome (RLS). Measurement of the iron content in several brain regions, and in particular the substantia nigra (SN), in early- and late-onset RLS patients using T2 relaxometry have yielded inconsistent results. In this study the regional iron content was assessed in patients with early- and late-onset RLS using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and compared the results with those in controls. METHODS: Thirty-seven patients with idiopathic RLS (20 with early onset and 17 with late onset) and 40 control subjects were studied using a 3.0-tesla MRI with a gradient-echo sampling of free induction decay and echo pulse sequence. The regions of interest in the brain were measured independently by two trained analysts using software known as medical image processing, analysis, and visualization. The results were compared and a correlation analysis was conducted to investigate which brain areas were related to RLS clinical variables. RESULTS: The iron index in the SN was significantly lower in patients with late-onset RLS than in controls (p=0.034), while in patients with early-onset RLS there was no significant difference. There was no significant correlation between the SN iron index of the late-onset RLS group and clinical variables such as disease severity. CONCLUSIONS: Late-onset RLS is associated with decreased iron content in the SN. This finding supports the hypothesis that regional brain iron deficiency plays a role in the pathophysiology of late-onset RLS.
Brain* ; Humans ; Iron ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Red Nucleus ; Restless Legs Syndrome* ; Substantia Nigra

It is suggested that calbindin buffers the concentration of intracellular calcium as the calcium binding protein in the cell. In the neurodegerative disease such as Parkinsonian disease, Huntington 'disease, Alzheimer 'disease there is some change of calbindin. The calcium mediated neurotoxicity begins due to the decrease of calbindin gene in those disease. In this study the substantia nigra of the normal rat is immunostained with anti -calbindin antibody, the morphological characteristics and distribution of calbindin positive neurons are studied to confirm the suggestive neuroprotective role of calbindin in the Parkinsonian disease. In the substantia nigra tissues of rats, calbindin was immunostained in the cell body and cellular processes of the polygonal or ovoid neurons. The calbindin immumostained neurons were distributed mainly in the substantia nigra lateralis than substantia nigra compacta and have even distribution from cephalic section to caudal section. The degree of calbindin -immunostaining was similar from medial area to lateral area, from ventral area to dorsal area in the one section of substantia nigra. These results support the potentiative neuroprotective role of calbindin in the Parkinsonian disease.
Animals ; Buffers ; Calbindins* ; Calcium ; Carrier Proteins ; Immunohistochemistry ; Neurons* ; Rats* ; Substantia Nigra*

To determine whether toxic and trace elements may play -a role as ail etiologic factor in the development of Parkinson's disease (PD), we measured the levels of toxic and trace elements in the hair from 56 PD patients and 50 normal controls with atomic absorption spectrophotometer In the hair of PD, the zinc concentration showed a significantly lower amount (p=O. 0001) and the concentrations of lead, cad mium, and copper showed a significantly larger amount (Pb, Cd, Cu : p=0.0012, 0. 0444, 0.0286) compared with those of the normal controls. There were no significant differences between the two groups in concentrations of mercury, manganese, iron and aluminum. The levels of each of the toxic and trace elements measured had no significant relationship with Hoehn-Yahr stage, age or the duration of disease. Our data was inconsistent with previous results that analysed the levels of toxic and trace elements in substantia nigra of parkinsonian patients. Due to significant differences in the levels of zinc, copper, lead and cadmium between PD and normal control group, there may be a relationship between PD and those toxic and trace elements. Hair analysis can be so easily applied in clinical practice that a large scale study should be attempted to further evaluate the relationship between trace elements and PD.
Absorption ; Aluminum ; Cadmium ; Copper ; Hair* ; Humans ; Iron ; Manganese ; Parkinson Disease* ; Substantia Nigra ; Trace Elements ; Zinc

To clarify neuronal connection of the medial rectus muscle at brain stem, Bartha strain of the psecudorabies virus(PRV-Ba) and cholera toxin-horeserdish peroxidase(CT-HRP) was injected into medial rectus muscle of the rat. About 84 hours after PRV or CT-HRP injection, the brain was removed and processed immunohistochemical stain for PRV-Ba and neurohistochemical stain for CT-HRP using tetramethyl benzidine. The CT-HRP positive reaction was only present in ipsilateral oculomotor nucleus, contralateral abducence nucleus and bilaterally in rostral interstitial nucleus of medial longitudinal fasciculus, olivary pretectal nucleus, medial and superior vestibular nucleus, nucleus prepositus hypoglossi, prerubral field, nucleus Darkschewitsch, lateral substantia nigra, terminal nucleus of accessory nucleus, dorsal raphenucleus, locus ceruleus and pontime reticular formation. This study confirmed that both oculomotor nucleus and abducence nucleus were connected with each other through the medial longitudinal fasciculus, and neuronal connection of the medial rectus muscle in the rat brain stem.
Animals ; Brain Stem* ; Brain* ; Cholera ; Locus Coeruleus ; Neurons ; Rats* ; Reticular Formation ; Substantia Nigra

Hallervorden-Spatz disease is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder of mainly early childhood which is characterized by pigmentary degeneration of the globus pallidus, substantia nigra, and red nucleus. Clinically it manifests various symptoms and signs of extrapyramidal and pyramidal involvement. Authors report a 28-year-old female patient with suspected Hallervorden-Spatz disease in the aspects of clinical and MRI findings suggesting metal deposition in the globus pallidus, substantia nigra, and red nucleus on both side.
Adult ; Female ; Globus Pallidus ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Pantothenate Kinase-Associated Neurodegeneration* ; Red Nucleus ; Substantia Nigra