Manganese exposure exacerbates progressive motor deficits and neurodegeneration in the Mito Park mouse model of Parkinson’s disease.

A recently study by Langley and colleagues used the MitoPark mouse model of PD which recapitulates the behavioral symptoms and neuropathological changes associated with PD to investigate the effects of low level manganese exposure on disease progression.  The study found that exposure to manganese (10 mg/kg, p.o. daily for 4 weeks) accelerated the rate of progression of motor deficits in MitoPark mice and also enhanced oxidative damage in the striatum and substantia nigra (SN) of these mice. These new results provide additional data in the growing body of research indicating that neurotoxicants such as manganese that increase oxidative stress can augment mitochondrial dysfunction and exacerbate nigrostriatal neurodegeneration which in turn can unmask latent PD-related behavioral symptoms.  

​Link to citation in Pubmed