ArticleNeuroscience2008
Alpha-synuclein-immunopositive myenteric neurons and vagal preganglionic terminals: autonomic pathway implicated in Parkinson's disease?
Article in Neuroscience, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 91 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
91 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 186 citations in OpenAlex.
- Experimental models of gut-first Parkinson's disease: A systematic review.Neurogastroenterology and motility · 2023Pooled it
- Probiotics treatment for Parkinson disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials.Aging · 2022Pooled it
- Body Fluid-based Biomarkers for Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson's Disease.Annals of neurosciences · 2026Review
- Microbiota-driven mechanisms in multisystem diseases: integrative evidence across cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological and autoimmune disorders.Antonie van Leeuwenhoek · 2026Review
- Movement disorders associated with diarrhoea.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2026Review
- G protein-coupled Estrogen Receptor Activation Exerts Protective Effects via Modulating Brain and Gut NLRP3 Inflammasome in Parkinson's Disease.Experimental neurobiology · 2025Article
- Radiation-Induced Brain Injury: Mechanistic Insights and the Promise of Gut-Brain Axis Therapies.Brain sciences · 2024Review
- Phosphorylated α-synuclein deposited in Schwann cells interacting with TLR2 mediates cell damage and induces Parkinson's disease autonomic dysfunction.Cell death discovery · 2024Article
- The association of vagal atrophy with parameters of autonomic function in multiple system atrophy and progressive supranuclear palsy.Therapeutic advances in neurological disorders · 2024Article
- Gut mucosal cells transfer α-synuclein to the vagus nerve.JCI insight · 2023Article
- Translational molecular imaging and drug development in Parkinson's disease.Molecular neurodegeneration · 2023Review
- Toxicity of extracellular alpha-synuclein is independent of intracellular alpha-synuclein.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Sex Differences in Dopaminergic Vulnerability to Environmental Toxicants - Implications for Parkinson's Disease.Current environmental health reports · 2022Review
- Neuroinflammation and Parkinson's Disease-From Neurodegeneration to Therapeutic Opportunities.Cells · 2022Review
- Gut Microbes and Neuropathology: Is There a Causal Nexus?Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Gastrointestinal involvement in Parkinson's disease: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management.NPJ Parkinson's disease · 2022Review
- Chicoric Acid Prevents Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration in a Mouse Parkinson's Disease Model: Immune Response and Transcriptome Profile of the Spleen and Colon.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- The relationship between Parkinson's disease and gastrointestinal diseases.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Review
- The Role of Gut Microbiota in the Progression of Parkinson's Disease and the Mechanism of Intervention by Traditional Chinese Medicine.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2022Review
- The gut-brain axis and Parkinson disease: clinical and pathogenetic relevance.Annals of medicine · 2021Review
31 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The protein alpha-synuclein is implicated in the development of Parkinson's disease. The molecule forms Lewy body aggregates that are hallmarks of the disease, has been associated with the spread of neuropathology from the peripheral to the CNS, and appears to be involved with the autonomic disorders responsible for the gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms of individuals afflicted with Parkinson's. To characterize the normative expression of alpha-synuclein in the innervation of the GI tract, we examined both the postganglionic neurons and the preganglionic projections by which the disease is postulated to retrogradely invade the CNS. Specifically, in Fischer 344 and Sprague-Dawley rats, immunohistochemistry in conjunction with injections of the tracer Dextran-Texas Red was used to determine, respectively, the expression of alpha-synuclein in the myenteric plexus and in the vagal terminals. Alpha-synuclein is expressed in a subpopulation of myenteric neurons, with the proportion of positive somata increasing from the stomach (approximately 3%) through duodenum (proximal, approximately 6%; distal, approximately 13%) to jejunum (approximately 22%). Alpha-synuclein is co-expressed with the nitrergic enzyme nitric oxide synthase (NOS) or the cholinergic markers calbindin and calretinin in regionally specific patterns: approximately 90% of forestomach neurons positive for alpha-synuclein express NOS, whereas approximately 92% of corpus-antrum neurons positive for alpha-synuclein express cholinergic markers. Vagal afferent endings in the myenteric plexus and the GI smooth muscle do not express alpha-synuclein, whereas, virtually all vagal preganglionic projections to the gut express alpha-synuclein, both in axons and in terminal varicosities in apposition with myenteric neurons. Vagotomy eliminates most, but not all, alpha-synuclein-positive neurites in the plexus. Some vagal preganglionic efferents expressing alpha-synuclein form varicose terminal rings around myenteric plexus neurons that are also positive for the protein, thus providing a candidate alpha-synuclein-expressing pathway for the retrograde transport of putative Parkinson's pathogens or toxins from the ENS to the CNS.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.