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Rate of cell death in parkinsonism indicates active neuropathological process
Author(s) -
McGeer Patrick L.,
Itagaki Shigeru,
Akiyama Haruhiko,
McGeer Edith G.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.410240415
Subject(s) - parkinsonism , pathological , dopamine , neuroscience , basal ganglia , medicine , attrition , microglia , psychology , pathology , central nervous system , disease , inflammation , dentistry
It has been hypothesized that idiopathic parkinsonism might be due to age‐related attrition of dopamine neurons occurring long after an initial acute episode. We present evidence against this hypothesis, based on our finding of at least six times as many HLA‐DR—positive microglia phagocytosing dopamine neurons in parkinsonian brains as in control brains. This difference indicates an active pathological process.