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Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder charact- ized clinically by tremor, rigidity, slow movements, and postural instability. Pathologically, dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra bear the brunt of the degeneration, though other neuronal groups can be affected as well. Although Parkinson's disease is the only neurodegenerative disorder for which effective therapies are available, these treatment options are only symptomatic, do not influence the underlying degenerative process, and are associated with a high incidence of complications, particularly with their long-term use. The progressive nature of the disease and the limitations of its palliative therapies result in significant functional impairment. The chronic disability and the increased prevalence of the disease with the prolongation of life expectancy in developed countries make the social and economic impact of this disease quite high. For- nately, systematic basic and clinical research in this disease has yielded major new advances that render patients' hopes for a cure considerably closer to reality. The application of molecular biologic methodologies in the study of Parkinson's disease has begun to have a major impact only in recent years. Con- quently, the utility of these technologies is largely in the research arena, although their clinical applications are now being realized.

Parkinson's Disease: Methods and Protocols

Part I. Genetics Point Mutations in the _-Synuclein Gene Abbas Parsian and Joel S. Perlmutter Autosomal Recessive Juvenile Parkinsonism (AR-JP): Genetic Diagnosis Hiroto Matsumine, Nobutaka Hattori, and Yoshikuni Mizuno Part II. Molecular Pathogenetic Studies Parkinson's Disease, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, and Multiple System Atrophy as _-Synucleinopathies Michel Goedert, Ross Jakes, R. Anthony Crowther, and Maria Grazia Spillantini _-Synuclein/Amyloid Interactions Poul Henning Jensen Functional Defect Conferred by the Parkinson's Disease-Causing _-Synuclein (Ala30Pro) Mutation Poul Henning Jensen Molecular Biology of Dopamine-Induced Apoptosis: Possible Implications for Parkinson's Disease Ilan Ziv, Anat Shirvan, Daniel Offen, Ari Barzilai, and Eldad Melamed Animal Models of Induced Apoptotic Death in the Substantia Nigra Tinmarla F. Oo and Robert E. Burke Apoptotic Morphology in Phenotypically Defined Dopaminergic Neurons of the Substantia Nigra Tinmarla F. Oo and Robert E. Burke The Role of Nitric Oxide in Parkinson's Disease Serge Przedborski and Ted M. Dawson Oxidative Stress Indices in Parkinson's Disease: Biochemical Determination Moussa B. H. Youdim, Noam Drigues, and Silvia Mandel Part III. Molecular Aspects of Basal Ganglia Function Quantification of Tyrosine Hydroxylase mRNA Hiroshi Ichinose, Tamae Ohye, Takahiro Suzuki, Hidehito Inagaki, and Toshiharu Nagatsu Immunochemical Analysis of Dopamine Transporters in Parkinson's Disease Gary W. Miller and Allan I. Levey Dopamine Transporter and Vesicular Monoamine Transporter Knockout Mice: Implications for Parkinson's Disease Gary W. Miller, Yan-Min Wang, Raul R. Gainetdinov, and Marc G. Caron Transcription Mechanisms for Dopamine Receptor Genes Sang-Hyeon Lee and M. Maral Mouradian Detection of DNA/Protein Interactions in Dopamine Receptor Genes Sang-Hyeon Lee and M. Maral Mouradian In Situ Hybridization on Brain Tissue Claas-Hinrich Lammers, Yoshinobu Hara, and M. Maral Mouradian Regulation of Striatal N-Methyl-d-Aspartate Receptor (NMDAR) Function by Phosphorylation of Its Subunits in Parkinsonian Rats Justin D. Oh Part IV. Molecular Therapies Chronic Intracerebral Delivery of Trophic Factors via a Programmable Pump as a Treatment for Parkinsonism Richard Grondin, Zhiming Zhang, Dennis D. Elsberry, Greg A. Gerhardt, and Don M. Gash Grafting Genetically Engineered Cells into the Striatum of NonHuman Primates Krys S. Bankiewicz, Phillip Pivirotto, Rosario Sanchez-Pernaute, and Eugene O. Major Encapsulated Cell Implants as a Novel Treatment for Parkinson's Disease Jack L. Tseng and Patrick Aebischer Neural Stem Cell Technology as a Novel Treatment for Parkinson's Disease Richard J. E. Armstrong, Anne E. Rosser, Stephen B. Dunnett, and Roger A. Barker