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Abstract
Using postmortem immunohistochemical analysis, we have identified degeneration of
several different neuronal cell groups in the brainstem of patients dying with idiopathic
Parkinson's disease. We report the first chemically identified loss of presumed serotonin
neurons in the median raphe nucleus of the pons and of substance P-containing preganglionic
neurons in the dorsal motor vagal nucleus. This evidence is concordant with other
evidence that the primary neuropathological process is not confined either to a single
pathway or to neurons containing a particular transmitter. Rather it appears that
Parkinson's disease affects several classes of neurons in localized areas of the brainstem.