Symmetry of synuclein density in autopsied Parkinson's disease submandibular glands

Peripheral tissue biopsy in Parkinson's disease (PD) may be valuable for clinical care, biomarker validation, and as research enrollment criteria.

Determine whether submandibular gland pathologic alpha-synuclein (aSyn) density is symmetrical and whether previous needle biopsy caused tissue damage.

Thirty autopsy-confirmed PD cases having fixed submandibular gland tissue from one side and frozen submandibular gland tissue from the contralateral side were studied. Tissue was stained for phosphorylated aSyn and density (0-4 semiquantitative scale) was determined. Three previously biopsied cases were also assessed for tissue damage at subsequent autopsy.

Mean (SD) age was 80.9 (5.5) years and disease duration 12.5 (9.3). Submandibular gland aSyn staining had a mean score of 2.13 for both the initially fixed and the initially frozen submandibular glands. The correlation between aSyn density of the two sides was r = 0.63. Correlation of aSyn density, in the originally fixed submandibular gland, with disease duration was good (r = 0.49, p =.006). No permanent tissue damage was found in the three previously biopsied cases.

This study found good correlation between aSyn density in both submandibular glands of patients with PD and found no evidence of significant tissue damage in previously biopsied subjects.