A deep sequencing investigation of mitochondrial DNA damage in cholinergic neurons of the Pedunculopontine Nucleus
Amelia Lu, Angela Pyle, Connor Lawless, Rafiqul Hussain, Alex Mcloughlin, Jannetta Steyn, Amy Reeve, Grainne Gorman, Ilse Pienaar, Joanna Elson · FENS Forum 2024
In Parkinson’s disease (PD), patients often exhibit higher levels of somatic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage, particularly large-scale deletions, in their brains. This damage is associated with losing neurons, including nigral dopaminergic and cholinergic neurons in the Pedunculopontine Nucleus (PPN). Unlike dopaminergic neurons, PPN cholinergic neurons tend to maintain wild-type mtDNA levels by increasing mtDNA copy number (mtCN) in response to mtDNA deletions.Our study isolated single cholinergic neurons from post-mortem PPN tissue of PD patients and controls, examining mtDNA deletions' loc
ePoster · Neuroscience