The PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 knockout (Pink1-/-) rat model of early-onset PD demonstrates CNS pathology including loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, α-synuclein deposition in the nucleus ambiguus and periaqueductal gray, and significant perturbations of oromotor function and swallowing performance that precede the emergence of classic gross-motor signs of PD [19–21]. This evidence concerns the gene SNCA and Parkinson disease.