Clinical availability of skin biopsy in the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.
To determine whether skin biopsy is practically useful in the premortem diagnosis for Parkinson's disease (PD), we examined Lewy pathology in the skin of the chest wall and leg, obtained from 6-mm punch biopsies, using phosphorylated alpha-synuclein antibody in 20 patients with clinically diagnosed PD. Abnormal accumulation of alpha-synuclein was found in the chest skin of two (10%) of 20 patients, but not in the leg. Although skin biopsy combined with a conventional immunohistochemistry for alpha-synuclein is not sufficient as a diagnostic tool, we could firstly demonstrate Lewy pathology in premortem tissue. The skin remains to be a promising tissue to be examined for the premortem diagnosis of PD.
Miki
Yasuo
Y
Department of Neuropathology, Institute of Brain Science, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki 036-8562, Japan. yasuomiki@hotmail.com
Tomiyama
Masahiko
M
Ueno
Tatsuya
T
Haga
Rie
R
Nishijima
Haruo
H
Suzuki
Chieko
C
Mori
Fumiaki
F
Kaimori
Mitsuomi
M
Baba
Masayuki
M
Wakabayashi
Koichi
K
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007866:Leg / Q000473:pathology*; D016631:Lewy Bodies / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D035441:Thoracic Wall / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D051844:alpha-Synuclein / Q000378:metabolism
D051844:alpha-Synuclein