Macroautophagy of the GPR37 orphan receptor and Parkinson disease-associated neurodegeneration

Parkinson disease (PD) is among the most common human neurodegenerative diseases and it is characterized by progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN), with concomitant accumulation of typical cytoplasmic inclusions called Lewy bodies (LB). Several protein components are detected in these insoluble aggregates, including alpha-synuclein, parkin and the putative G-protein coupled membrane receptor 37 (GPR37).