The familial occurrence of Parkinson's disease. Lack of evidence for maternal inheritance

R. M. Zweig, A. Singh, J. E. Cardillo and J. W. Langston
Department of Internal Medicine, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Shreveport, LA 71130-3932.

A questionnaire concerning the occurrence of Parkinson's disease in parents was administered for 252 patients with Parkinson's disease. Eleven fathers and five mothers of patients were reported to also have had this disease. These data fail to provide support for the hypothesis that Parkinson's disease is the result of maternal inheritance of an abnormal mitochondrial gene. This conclusion is further supported by a review of similar studies in the literature and an additional unpublished study, which revealed that of 922 patients with this disease, 37 fathers and 19 mothers were reportedly affected.