The aims of the proposal were to examine the mechanism of how dopamine neurons degenerate in Parkinson (PD) animal models. The work was centered on three recessive genes linked to PD: Pink1, DJ-1, and Parkin. Previous work published by the team had indicated that these genes are associated with mitochondrial function and oxidative stress. Overall, the aim of the work was to better understand the reasons why mitochondrial dysfunction leads to selective loss of dopamine neurons in PD.
