title: Role of pontine nuclei damage in smooth pursuit impairment of progressive supranuclear palsy: a clinical-pathologic study.
abstract: We performed a quantitative study of the pontine nuclei in the basis pontis and a semiquantitative study of extrapontine structures involved in smooth pursuit in four patients with severe impairment of horizontal smooth pursuit and histopathologically confirmed diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). There were only slight changes in the extrapontine structures involved in smooth pursuit, but there was a significant neuronal loss--massive in three patients and mild in one patient--in all nuclei of the basis pontis. Our results suggest that degenerative lesions affecting the pontine nuclei are largely responsible for the horizontal smooth pursuit impairment in PSP.
authors.affiliation: Unité INSERM 289, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, Paris, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malessa
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gaymard
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rivaud
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cervera
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hirsch
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Verny
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Duyckaerts
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Agid
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pierrot-Deseilligny
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002102:Cadaver; D016923:Cell Death; D005133:Eye Movements; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011149:Pons / Q000473:pathology*; D011698:Pursuit, Smooth; D013494:Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*