Over the last decade several genes have been identified that may
play a role in dopamine neuron development as well as the
pathophysiology of PD including Nurr1, Parkin, and Pitx3. Recently,
we and others have shown that aphakia (ak) mice, which are deficient
in the bicoid-related, homeodomain-containing transcription factor,
Pitx3, fulfill major criteria for an animal model of PD.