Brain cells that are linked to Parkinson’s disease finally identified

By Clare Wilson.

The Parkinson's disease subtype of brain cells that die has been discovered using a new technique that can identify which genes are active in individual cells.

Parkinson's disease, a progressive condition that results in the development of tremors and difficulties in moving, is linked with the gradual death of cells in part of the brain called the substantia nigra. The exact identity of the cells that make dopamine was not clear.

Evan Macosko at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard says that better treatments are needed for Parkinson's disease because the medicines boost dopamine in different ways.

Macosko's team looked at cells from the brains of eight people who didn't have Parkinson's and agreed to donate their brains for research after death.

The researchers used a new technique called single cellRNAsequy, which allows them to see which genes are active and which are not in a tissue. There were different types of dopamine- producing cells within the substantia nigra.

The researchers used the same technique on the brains of 10 people who had died with Parkinson's or Lewy body dementia. They found that one of the brain cells had been reduced in number and that many of them had died.

Macosko says there are 100,000 cells in a healthy adult brain.

He says the findings should lead to a better understanding of Parkinson's and a way to assess potential treatments. New medicines could be tested on the cells if they are grown in a dish. Some groups are trying to develop dopamine-making cells that could be used to treat Parkinson's disease.

Nature Neuroscience is a journal.

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