How the pathology of Parkinson's disease spreads
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - 05:35
in Health & Medicine
Accumulation of the synaptic protein alpha-synuclein, resulting in the formation of aggregates called Lewy bodies in the brain, is a hallmark of Parkinson's and other related neurodegenerative diseases. This pathology appears to spread throughout the brain as the disease progresses. Now, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea, have described how this mechanism works. Their findings - the first to show neurone-to-neurone transmission of alpha-synuclein - will appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on 29 July...