http://www.researchonline.mq.edu.au/vital/access/services/Feed ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 Neuropathology of non-motor features of Parkinson disease http://www.researchonline.mq.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/mq:14338 Non-motor manifestations of Parkinson disease (PD) are common and some may actually antedate motor dysfunction. Extrapyramidal signs in PD are tightly linked to striatonigral dopaminergic denervation associated with neuronal loss and Lewy bodies in the residual neurons of the substantia nigra. Lewy bodies composed of abnormal α-synuclein are the histologic hallmark of PD, and their presence beyond midbrain dopaminergic neurons is considered to be the pathologic substrate of many, if not all, of the non-motor manifestations of PD. We review the pathologic correlates of autonomic dysfunction (cardiac and gastrointestinal), hyposmia, depression, rapid eye movement behavior disorder and dementia in PD For each non-motor clinical feature there is strong evidence to suggest a role for α-synuclein pathology, lending further support for the notion that PD is a multisystem α-synucleinopathy. 2011-08-06T02:41:31.842Z ]]> Anticipation of onset age in familial Parkinson's disease without SCA gene mutations http://www.researchonline.mq.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/mq:12639 Assessment of a series of 279 cases with Lewy body disease revealed 14 families having a family history consistent with autosomal dominant inheritance, eight of these with dominant Parkinsonism and six with dominant dementia. Analysis of the age at onset and genetic features in these families revealed significant anticipation only in a subset of parkinsonian families, with no pathological alleles for spinocerebellar ataxias or the common α-synuclein or LRRK2 point mutations. 2011-05-25T22:07:15.193Z ]]>