Morphometric fingerprint of asymptomatic <i>Parkin</i> and <i>PINK1</i> mutation carriers in the basal ganglia

Abstract

The alternative causes of the increased striatal gray matter volume may be either due to excessive levels of neuronal activity caused by chronic dopaminergic dysfunction or due to long-term adaptation to chronic nigrostriatal dysfunction actively compensating for the dopaminergic denervation. In any case, the results indicate that a genetically driven regional dysfunction may be imprinted in the structure of the dysfunctional brain region, for example in the striatum.