New research draws a conclusive link between Parkinson’s disease and the deterioration of a subpopulation of neurons found within the substantia nigra, a brain region linked to motor control and executive functioning.
Scientists have long known that Parkinson’s—a progressive, neurodegenerative condition that currently affects about 1 million people in the United States—is associated with a die-off of dopamine-making neurons in the substantia nigra, but multiple studies going back decades have shown that certain neurons in the area survive well into later stages of the disease. In a paper published yesterday (May 5) in Nature Neuroscience, scientists from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard reveal why that is: there are ten different types of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, and just one is linked to Parkinson’s.
“This seemed like an opportunity to . . . really clarify which kinds of cells are actually dying in Parkinson’s disease,” study coauthor ...
