PINK1 and Parkinson disease: However, Barodia et al. determined the levels of PINK1 in neurons, astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) cultured from wild type and PINK1 knockout rat pups and showed that PINK1-dependent ubiquitin phosphorylation is predominately in astrocytes suggesting that the contribution of astrocyte dysfunction to PD pathogenesis warrants further investigation (45).