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Models of Parkinson’s disease revisited

Conventional models propose that activity levels in two neuronal pathways, which have opposing effects on movement, become imbalanced in Parkinson’s disease. Analyses in mice point to a more complex reality.
  1. Thomas Wichmann

    1. Thomas Wichmann is at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30329, USA, and in the Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Emory University.

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Scientists have long associated structures in the forebrain called the basal ganglia with the control of movement, and with movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. Some of the strongest evidence for the role of the basal ganglia in movement is anatomical1: the basal ganglia receive neuronal input from movement-related areas in the brain’s frontal cortex through a region called the striatum. They then send it back to the frontal cortex. Two pathways mediate this processing, but models to explain how processing functions go awry in movement disorders are debated. In a paper online in Nature, Parker et al.2 add valuable data to the discussion.

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Nature 557, 169-170 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-02589-8

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