Intranuclear rodlets in the rabbit retina following treatment with MPTP

Minor retinal degeneration in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder with selective and progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra. Studies on Parkinson's disease patients and dopamine-depleted animals indicate that dopaminergic neurons in the retina degenerate due to the genetic and environmental factors that cause dopaminergic neuron loss in the substantia nigra. Besides motor and non-motor symptoms, visual symptoms are common in Parkinson's disease patients, ranging from complaints of reading and driving difficulties, to complex visual hallucinations. The delicate network of various neurons in the retina ensures the accuracy of visual signal transmission, and dopamine is primarily a modulator in this complicated process. In retinitis pigmentosa, the gradual loss of photoreceptors causes gross remodeling of the neural retina and eventually loss of visual capacity. We hypothesize that the retina in Parkinson's disease patients undergoes comparatively minor degeneration due to progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons, which are less in amount and auxiliary in function compared to photoreceptors, and thus lead to various visual dysfunctions.

Intranuclear rodlets and associated true intranuclear bodies in normal cultured human dermal papilla cells

The dermal papilla is believed to exert controlling influences on hair growth. This report documents, for the first time, the occurrence of intranuclear rodlets in normal cultured human dermal papilla cells. Intranuclear rodlets have been observed predominantly in normal neurons, neural neoplasms, and paraneuromas. Whereas intranuclear rodlets and complex intranuclear bodies have not been identified in dermal papilla cells in vivo, they were observed, by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, in primary and subsequent passaged cultures in all 10 individuals examined. Intranuclear rodlets and bodies were not found, however, in parallel cultures of scalp dermal fibroblasts from the same individuals. Rodlet ultrastructure in cultured dermal papilla cells exhibited many features in common with previous reports on rodlets in neuronal and paraneuronal cells. Features that differentiated the rodlets in this study, however, included: doublet/triplet rodlets in the same nucleus; rodlets or crystalline filament bundles within complex nuclear inclusions; close relationship with the nuclear membrane, and their frequent intimate association with intranuclear bodies; and nucleoli and fine chromatin-distinct fibrillar material. Although the function of these true intranuclear inclusions in dermal papilla cells is unknown, it is noteworthy that they were present in these highly metabolically active fibroblasts while absent in comparatively less active dermal fibroblasts, and may indeed be a marker for this fibroblast cell type.

Functional neuroarchitecture of the retina: hypothesis on the dysfunction of retinal dopaminergic circuitry in Parkinson's disease

Recent morphologic and functional techniques for the study of nerve cells, such as intracellular injection and neurotransmitter immunohistochemistry, allow a new approach to the functional architecture of the retinal circuitry. Two types of dopaminergic cells are described: amacrine cells and interplexiform cells. These latter cells, which send processes to both the inner and outer plexiform layers, form a feedback loop acting at the level of horizontal cell coupling. Two molecules localized in such cells, dopamine and GABA, have antagonistic effects on horizontal cell coupling and regulate the diameter of their receptive fields which code for contrast. Changes in the ERG, VEPs and contrast sensitivity occur in Parkinsonian patients and are identical to those observed in animal models whose dopaminergic retinal system has been destroyed, thus suggesting a degenerative process of this system in Parkinson's disease. The observation of dopamine neurons, labelled by their tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity, in the retina of 5 patients, led to the observation of reduced dopamine innervation in the central retina of Parkinsonian patients.

Systemic 1-methyl,4-phenyl,1-2-3-6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) administration decreases retinal dopamine content in primates

Following MPTP administration, 4 Cynomolgus monkeys developed a parkinsonian syndrome, accompanied by specific changes of both pattern visual evoked potential and electroretinogram. Retinal dopamine and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid contents were measured in the 4 MPTP-treated monkeys and in 3 normal monkeys. Dopamine and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid levels were significantly lower in the retinas of the MPTP-treated animals (p less than 0.001), suggesting that dopamine has a specific function in the visual system of primates.