Maternal inheritance in Parkinson's disease

✍ Scribed by Dr G. Frederick Wooten; Lillian J. Currie; James P. Bennett; Madaline B. Harrison; Joel M. Trugman; W. Davis Parker Jr.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 422 KB
• Volume: 41
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0364-5134
• DOI: 10.1002/ana.410410218

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

To evaluate possible matrilineal factors in the inheritance of Parkinson's disease, we prospectively identified families in which a parent and multiple siblings had Parkinson's disease. In each of the 5 families identified, the affected parent was the mother (p < 0.03). The age at onset in the offspring generation in these 5 families was younger than the age at onset in the parental generation (p < 0.001). In addition, the age at onset in all patients with an affected mother (n = 18) was younger than the age at onset in the affected mothers (p > 0.001). No difference was found between the age at onset in patients with an affected father (n = 14) and the age at onset in the affected fathers. These results are consistent with a role for inherited abnormalities of mitochondrial DNA in the pathogenesis of at least some cases of Parkinson's disease.