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Author Notes:
Correspondence: James G. Greene, MD, PhD, 505H Whitehead Biomedical Research Building, 615 Michael St, Atlanta, GA 30322; Phone: 404-727-9579; Fax: 404-727-3728; Email: jggreen@emory.edu
Subject:
Research Funding:
This work was supported by NINDS K08 NS048858 and a George C. Cotzias Memorial Fellowship from the American Parkinson Disease Association.
Keywords:
- Parkinson’s
- gene expression
- microarray
- pathogenesis
- mitochondria
- axon
- axon guidance
- synaptic function
- synuclein
Current status and future directions of gene expression profiling in Parkinson's disease
Tools:
Abstract:
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common age-associated neurodegenerative disorder. Motor symptoms are the cardinal component of PD, but non-motor symptoms, such as dementia, depression, and autonomic dysfunction are being increasingly recognized. Motor symptoms are primarily caused by selective degeneration of substantia nigra dopamine (SNDA) neurons in the midbrain; non-motor symptoms may be referable to well-described pathology at multiple levels of the neuraxis. Development of symptomatic and disease-modifying therapies is dependent on an accurate and comprehensive understanding of the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of PD. Gene expression profiling has been recently employed to assess function on a broad level in the hopes of gaining greater knowledge concerning how individual mechanisms of disease fit together as a whole and to generate novel hypotheses concerning PD pathogenesis, diagnosis, and progression. So far, the majority of studies have been performed on postmortem brain samples from PD patients, but more recently, studies have targeted enriched populations of dopamine neurons and have begun to explore extra-nigral neurons and even peripheral tissues. This review will provide a brief synopsis of gene expression profiling in parkinsonism and its pitfalls to date and propose several potential future directions and uses for the technique. It will focus on the use of microarray experiments to stimulate hypotheses concerning mechanisms of neurodegeneration in PD, since the majority of studies thus far have addressed that complicated issue.
Copyright information:
© 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
This is an Open Access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
