title: Parkinson's disease: the thalamic components of the limbic loop are severely impaired by alpha-synuclein immunopositive inclusion body pathology.
abstract: The Parkinson's disease (PD)-related inclusion body pathology comprises Lewy bodies (LBs) as well as Lewy neurites (LNs). The distribution and severity of this pathology were investigated in the thalamus of 12 autopsy cases with clinically diagnosed and neuropathologically confirmed PD. The LBs and LNs were visualized by immunoreactions against the protein alpha-synuclein. In the human thalamus during PD, a specific and highly stereotypical distribution pattern of LBs and LNs evolves. As in cortical and other subcortical regions, the components of human thalamus assigned to the limbic loop bear the brunt of the PD-related pathology. In contrast, the thalamic components integrated into the striatal and cerebellar loops as well as the primary sensory nuclei of the thalamus show at best a mildly developed pathology. Damage to the thalamic components of the limbic loop nuclei may contribute not only to the cognitive, emotional, and autonomic symptoms of PD but to the somatomotor and oculomotor dysfunctions as well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroanatomy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, D-60590, Frankfurt/Main, Germany. u.rueb@em.uni-frankfurt.de
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Rüb
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Del Tredici
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schultz
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ghebremedhin
authors.forename: R A I
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: de Vos
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jansen Steur
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Braak
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000378:metabolism; D001344:Autopsy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D002479:Inclusion Bodies / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D016631:Lewy Bodies / Q000473:pathology; D008032:Limbic System / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D051843:Synucleins; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology*; D016707:Tissue Fixation; D051844:alpha-Synuclein
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C497604:SNCA protein, human; D051843:Synucleins; D051844:alpha-Synuclein