title: Clinical availability of skin biopsy in the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropathology, Institute of Brain Science, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki 036-8562, Japan. yasuomiki@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miki
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomiyama
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.forename: Rie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Haga
authors.forename: Haruo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishijima
authors.forename: Chieko
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Fumiaki
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Mitsuomi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaimori
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baba
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wakabayashi
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D051844:alpha-Synuclein