Inhomogeneity of the putaminal lesion in striatonigral degeneration.

An immunohistochemical topographic study was carried out in the putamen from three patients with striatonigral degeneration (SND) using antibody to calcineurin (CaN), a neurochemical marker for the striatal medium-size spinous neurons. In patients with SND, there was significant depletion of CaN immunoreactivity in the putamen with the caudal and lateral portion of the putamen being consistently and severely affected. In addition, the SND patients showed an inhomogeneous distribution pattern of residual CaN staining in the putamen, where remaining CaN immunoreactivity appeared as a characteristic patchwork of "islands" resembling the "striosomes" observed by the tyrosine hydroxylase or Met-enkephalin immunostaining in the putamen from normal individuals. This finding may account for the fact that there are subregional and compartmental differences in susceptibility of the medium-sized spinous neurons in the putamen with SND.