Multiple Systems Atrophy

Multiple systems atrophy (MSA) is a neurodegenerative disease in which nerve cells degenerate in particular areas of the brain causing problems with movement, balance, and other autonomic functions of the body, such as bladder control and blood-pressure regulation. In addition, some patients may develop dementia. Some symptoms of MSA overlap with Parkinson’s disease, whereas others are similar to those of ataxia. The prevalence of MSA is estimated at 4.6 per 100,000 people.  The mean survival rate after onset of the motor symptoms is 5-8 years and only 20% of patines survive past 12 years. Similarly to Parkinson’s disease, MSA is a synucleinopathy because a major pathological mechanism in MSA is abnormal aggregation of α-synuclein. In MSA, aggregated α-synuclein is deposited primarily in oligodendrocytes, the brain cells that make the myelin sheets. The deposits are called glial cytoplasmic inclusions.