Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-Parkinsonian

The pathological characteristic of Parkinson s disease is the selective degeneration of dopamine neurons in the pars compacta of the substantia nigra. The mechanism for the loss of neurons remains to be elucidated, and recently apoptosis has been proposed as a death process in Parkinson s disease. For example, the level of a product of the oxidative stress, 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal protein adduct, was found to increase in the nigral neurons of parkinsonian brains. Peroxynitrite (see Figure 13.6) has been proposed to be involved in the neuronal cell death in some neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. 

Gajdusek DC, Salazar AM. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and parkinsonian syndromes in high incidence among the Auyu and Jakai people of West New Guinea. Neurology 1982 32 107-126. 

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