Modeling pathophysiological aspects of Parkinson’s disease: Manipulating DA handling and alpha-synuclein expression in the nigrostriatal pathway using viral vectors
The pathological hallmark of Parkinson’s disease is dopaminergic neurodegeneration in the substantia nigra pars compacta neurons and accumulation of α-synuclein containing aggregates in the surviving neurons. The cause of cell death in Parkinson’s disease and the involvement of α-synuclein in the pathophysiology of the disease are unknown. Although other neuronal cell types exhibit α-synuclein pos