Ubiquitin-positive astrogliopathy clinically mimicking Parkinson’s disease

Abstract Several neurodegenerative pathologies can clinically mimic Parkinson’s disease, including neurodegenerative diseases with glial pathology. However, the glial aggregates are typically composed of known pathogenic proteins and are associated with prominent neuronal loss in the substantia nigr...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Meaghan Morris, Abhay Moghekar, Haidan Guo, Olga Pletnikova, Javier Redding-Ochoa, Marilyn Albert, Susan M. Resnick, Liam Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2022-11-01
Series:Acta Neuropathologica Communications
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40478-022-01464-y
Description
Summary:Abstract Several neurodegenerative pathologies can clinically mimic Parkinson’s disease, including neurodegenerative diseases with glial pathology. However, the glial aggregates are typically composed of known pathogenic proteins and are associated with prominent neuronal loss in the substantia nigra. Here we present an unusual case of a 91-year-old man with a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, but whose autopsy findings showed a ubiquitin-positive astrogliopathy without significant neuronal loss in the substantia nigra. These glial aggregates affected the basal ganglia, cortex, and cerebellum, and were negative for tau, alpha-synuclein, TDP-43, FUS, and p62. This case is a rare example of an unknown glial neurodegenerative pathology mimicking Parkinson’s disease without significant loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons.
ISSN:2051-5960