Myelin Basic Protein and Cardiac Sympathetic Neurodegeneration in Nonhuman Primates

Minimal myelination is proposed to be a contributing factor to the preferential nigral neuronal loss in Parkinson's disease (PD). Similar to nigral dopaminergic neurons, sympathetic neurons innervating the heart have long, thin axons which are unmyelinated or minimally myelinated. Interestingly, cardiac sympathetic loss in PD is heterogeneous across the heart, yet the spatial relationship between myelination and neurodegeneration is unknown....