期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2003
卷号：100
期号：7
页码：4245-4250
DOI：10.1073/pnas.0230529100
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Dopaminergic (DA) neurons of substantia nigra in the midbrain control voluntary movement, and their degeneration is the cause of Parkinson's disease. The complete set of genes required to specifically determine the development of midbrain DA subgroups is not known yet. We report here that mice lacking the bicoid-related homeoprotein Pitx3 fail to develop DA neurons of the substantia nigra. Other mesencephalic DA neurons of the ventral tegmental area and retrorubral field are unaltered in their dopamine expression and histological organization. These data suggest that Pitx3-dependent gene expression is specifically required for the differentiation of DA progenitors within the mesencephalic DA system.
