title: [Pathophysiology of sporadic Parkinson's disease].
abstract: Sporadic Parkinson's disease is a multisystem disorder that involves predisposed nerve cell types in circumscribed regions of the entire human nervous system (peripheral, enteric, and central nervous systems). A recent staging procedure for the pathological process proposes that, in the brain, the formation of intraneuronal Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites begins at two sites and continues in a topographically predictable sequence in 6 stages, during which components of the olfactory, autonomic, limbic, and somatomotor systems become progressively involved. In stages 1 - 2, the Lewy body pathology is confined to the medulla oblongata/pontine tegmentum and anterior olfactory structures. In stages 3 - 4, the substantia nigra, other nuclei of the basal mid- and forebrain, and the mesocortex become the focus of initially subtle and, then, severe changes. During this phase, the illness probably becomes clinically manifest. In the final stages 5 - 6, the lesions appear in the neocortex.
authors.affiliation: Klinische Neuroanatomie, Zentrum für Klinische Forschung, Neurologische Universitätsklinik Ulm. heiko.braak@uni-ulm.de
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Braak
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Del Tredici
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D016631:Lewy Bodies / Q000473:pathology; D009420:Nervous System / Q000473:pathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*