Problem: A pathologist was informed that a deceased patient had a family history of Parkinson's disease, and that he also suffered from it as well. The pathologist found abnormal accumulations of misfolded proteins in the center of numerous dopaminergic (DA) neurons on histological sections of post-mortem brain tissue.
Based on this preliminary evidence, which of the following would most likely be dysfunctional in this patient? Need Assignment Help?
a) DJ-1, a protein involved in oxidative stress
b) PINK1, a protein involved in maintaining the ubiquitin/proteasome system
c) LRRK-2, a protein involved in phosphorylation cascades and signaling pathways in DA neurons
d) Tyrosine Hydroxylase (TH), a protein involved in converting L-tyrosine to L- DOPA.
e) None, the patient was exposed to MPTP when he was trying to get high off MPPP