DJ-1 function and oxidative stress (Inter-lab project)

National Institute On Aging

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

We have been interested in the relationship between oxidative stress and DJ-1, a rare cause of recessive Parkinson's disease, for several years and have focussed the relationship between oxidative stress and mitochondrial localization. In the current period, we have explored the effects of DJ-1 deficiency in the brains of mice and rats. We find that loss of DJ-1 alters cellular signaling pathways that result, at a cellular level, in the accumulation of changes in metabolic enyzmes. We have completed extensive behavioral analyses of DJ-1 deficient rats, with two distinct deletion alleles. These animals have an age-dependent behavioral impairment with a strong motor component and stands in stark contrast to mouse models that have no obvious behavioral events or neurodegeneration. Ongoing work uses single cell approaches to understand species-dependent genotypic differences in these models.