The a-Synuclein Gene and Parkinson Disease in a Chinese Population

Methods: We recruited 183 Chinese patients with sporadic PD, 17 with younger-onset PD (onset age ,50 years), and 7 with PD and a positive family history as well as 227 unaffected Chinese control subjects from the outpatient departments of 2 major hospitals in Hong Kong. All subjects were assessed for the the diagnosis of PD by a consultant neurologist or geriatrician. Subjects were interviewed with a standard questionnaire that also questioned for family history. Venous blood samples were obtained from the subjects and genomic DNA was extracted and studied for the presence of Ala53Thr mutation in exon 4 and Ala30Pro mutation in exon 3 of the a-synuclein gene using a polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism method.