Neurotoxicity of paraquat and paraquat-induced mechanisms of developing Parkinson’s disease

摘要

SirWe read with some interest the ‘Mini Review’ article byZhang, Thompson and Xu entitled ‘Multifactorial theoryapplied to the neurotoxicity of paraquat and paraquat-induced mechanisms of developing Parkinson’s disease’recently published in Laboratory Investigation.1 Although wefound the mini review proposed an interesting theory thatmay add to the debate around the aetiology of idiopathicParkinson’s disease, we would like to seek the opportunity topoint out to the readership of Laboratory Investigation somerelevant shortcomings relating to this article with respect tothe apparent omission by the authors of highly relevantpapers authored or commissioned by ourselves, whichseriously question the veracity and reliability of the paraquatanimal model studies frequently referred to in the minireview, as well as human epidemiological studies which castdoubt on the claimed association between paraquat exposureand the incidence of Parkinson’s disease. In addition, thearticle includes a number of misconceptions and incorrectstatements made by the authors with respect to paraquat, itsuse in crop protection and both environmental and humanexposure.