However, neuroimaging in vivo as well as post-mortem examinations at autopsy have demonstrated that increased nigral iron content in patients with PD is a prominent pathophysiological feature (Dexter et al., 1987; Graham et al., 2000; Kaur and Andersen, 2004; Zecca et al., 2004; Berg et al., 2006; Rhodes and Ritz, 2008; Péran et al., 2010) and different findings suggest that decreased levels of serum ceruloplasmin may specifically exacerbate nigral iron deposition in PD patients (Bharucha et al., 2008; Jin et al., 2011, 2012; Martinez-Hernandez et al., 2011). The gene discussed is CP; the disease is Parkinson disease.