HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Correspondence: Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Correspondence are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Oakley, A. E. Articles by Morris, C. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Oakley, A. E. Articles by Morris, C. M. Related Collections Parkinson's disease/Parkinsonism

Individual dopaminergic neurons show raised iron levels in Parkinson disease

From the Institute for Ageing and Health (A.E.O., J.A.E.), Medical Toxicology Research Centre (C.M.M.), Wolfson Unit of Clinical Pharmacology, and Department of Neurology (M.E.), Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, Institute of Science and Technology in Medicine (J.F.C., J.D.), School of Postgraduate Medicine, Keele University, Staffordshire, and Centre for Electron Optical Studies (G.L., H.R.P.), University of Bath, UK. Dr. Elstner's current address is Department of Neurology, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr Morris, Medical Toxicology Research Centre, Wolfson Unit of Clinical Pharmacology, Newcastle University, Claremont Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4AA, UK c.m.morris{at}ncl.ac.uk

Objective: Evidence suggests that abnormal iron metabolism is associated with Parkinson disease (PD), with raised iron levels found in pathologically affected areas in PD. It is unknown if this elevated iron is actually associated with neurons or reactive glia, and we therefore addressed this issue by determining if raised iron was present in single dopaminergic neurons.

Methods: We used unfixed frozen sections from postmortem tissue of PD patients and elderly normal individuals to avoid metal contamination and translocation. Levels of iron and other elements were measured using sensitive and specific wavelength dispersive electron probe x-ray microanalysis coupled with cathodoluminescence spectroscopy in individual substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons.

Results: We identified raised intraneuronal iron in single defined substantia nigra neurons in PD (mean neuronal iron 2,838 vs 1,611, p < 0.0001) but not in other movement disorders such as Huntington disease. These findings were unrelated to the density of remaining neurons.

Conclusions: Primary changes in neuronal iron could lead to neurodegeneration in Parkinson disease.

Received April 24, 2006. Accepted in final form January 26, 2007.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. Logroscino, X. Gao, H. Chen, A. Wing, and A. Ascherio Dietary Iron Intake and Risk of Parkinson's Disease Am. J. Epidemiol., December 15, 2008; 168(12): 1381 - 1388. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Kostka, T. Hogen, K. M. Danzer, J. Levin, M. Habeck, A. Wirth, R. Wagner, C. G. Glabe, S. Finger, U. Heinzelmann, et al. Single Particle Characterization of Iron-induced Pore-forming {alpha}-Synuclein Oligomers J. Biol. Chem., April 18, 2008; 283(16): 10992 - 11003. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]