Flies expressing the most common Parkinson disease (PD)-related mutation, LRRK2-G2019S, in their dopaminergic neurons show loss of visual function and degeneration of the retina, including mitochondrial abnormalities, apoptosis and autophagy.
Mitochondrial abnormalities are a common feature in PD pathogenesis and we have investigated the impact of G2019S mutant LRRK2 expression on mitochondrial bioenergetics.
In addition, we observe autophagic and mitochondrial abnormalities in the brains of aged G2019S LRRK2 mice and markedly reduced neurite complexity of cultured dopaminergic neurons.