Starburst amacrine cells, involved in visual motion perception, loose their synaptic input from dopaminergic amacrine cells and degenerate in Parkinson's disease patients.

Taken together, this work indicates degeneration of starburst amacrine cells in PD related to dopaminergic degeneration and that dopaminergic amacrine cells could modulate the function of starburst amacrine cells. Since motion perception circuitries are affected in PD, their assessment using visual tests could provide new insights into the diagnosis of PD.