Mouse with Iron Disorder Offers Clues to Parkinson's, Similar Diseases.

NIH News Release January 30, 2001

Mice engineered to lack a gene involved in iron metabolism may provide important clues for deciphering the nature of a group of brain disorders -- similar to Parkinson's Disease -- affecting movement, according to a study by researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

The researchers reported in the February issue of Nature Genetics that mice lacking the gene for iron regulatory protein 2 (IRP2) develop iron deposits in key areas of the brain The progressive deterioration of the mice's nervous system is like that seen in people with Parkinson's Disease and Multiple System Atrophy (also known as Parkinson's …