Abstract
In these present studies, in vivo and and post-mortem studies have investigated the association between iron and inflammation. Early-stage Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, of less than 5 years disease duration, showed associations of plasmatic ferritin concentrations with both proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 and hepcidin, a regulator of iron metabolism as well as clinical measures. In addition ratios of plasmatic ferritin and iron accumulation in deep grey matter nuclei assessed with relaxometry T2* inversely correlated with disease severity and duration of PD. On the hand, post-mortem material of the substantia nigra compacta (SNc) divided according to Braak and Braak scores, III–IV and V–VI staging, exhibited comparable microgliosis, with a variety of phenotypes present. There was an association between the intensity of microgliosis and iron accumulation as assayed by Perl’s staining in the SNc sections. In conclusion, markers of inflammation and iron metabolism in both systemic and brain systems are closely linked in PD, thus offering a potential biomarker for progression of the disease.
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The datasets generated during and/or analyses during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all participants, their families and friends, as well as the clinical researchers, nurses and technicians who contributed to this manuscript. The in vivo study was supported by The Imperial NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). We would also like to thank Dr Rexford Newbould for radiological and methodological support for the MRI analysis at Imanova Centre of Imaging Sciences.
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Martin-Bastida, A., Tilley, B.S., Bansal, S. et al. Iron and inflammation: in vivo and post-mortem studies in Parkinson’s disease. J Neural Transm 128, 15–25 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-020-02271-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-020-02271-2