On the question of apoptosis in the parkinsonian substantia nigra.

Apoptosis has been postulated as a mechanism of nerve cell death in Parkinson's disease. In the present study, the substantia nigra of 22 neuropathologically confirmed Parkinson cases and 8 control brains was studied using the in situ end-labeling (TUNEL) method. About 50% of parkinsonian brains showed a small number of TUNEL-positive glial cells in the substantia nigra, whereas no neurons showed convincing TUNEL positivity or any morphological signs of apoptosis. No correlation was observed between the number of TUNEL-positive glial cells and microglial activation. Our results fail to demonstrate apoptosis as a mechanism of cell death in Parkinson's disease.