Seeding and amplifying parkinsonism research

In 1817, James Parkinson described the clinical syndrome “Shaking Palsy” that has borne his name. Two hundred years later, parkinsonian syndromes (PS) describe a group of neurodegenerative disorders manifested as movement disorders. Among these PS, classic Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the most prevalent. It is marked pathologically by the loss of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra of the basal ganglia (BG) and the presence of α-synuclein (αSyn) positive Lewy bodies. Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and multiple system atrophy (MSA) are two other common PS (often referred to as atypical parkinsonisms) that have a broader neuronal loss/death in brain regions that includes other aspects of the BG as well as the pons, cerebellum, and related structures. PSP characteristically has tau-positive inclusions in both glia and neurons, whereas MSA typically has glial cytoplasmic inclusions that are αSyn positive.