Striatal Neuroinflammation Promotes Parkinsonism in Rats

Sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with unknown cause, but it has been suggested that neuroinflammation may play a role in pathogenesis of the disease. Neuroinflammatory component in process of PD neurodegeneration was proposed by postmortem, epidemiological and animal model studies. However, it remains unclear how neuroinflammatory factors contribute to dopaminergic neuronal death in PD.-(l-iminoethyl)-lysine, an iNOS inhibitor, suggesting that iNOS-derived NO is associated with the mitochondrial impairment.These results implicate neuroinflammation-induced S-nitrosylation/nitration of mitochondrial complex I in mitochondrial malfunction and subsequent degeneration of the nigral dopamine neurons