CALB1 and Parkinson disease: Simultaneously, SNc dopaminergic neurons with low expression of the Ca2+-binding protein calbindin were found to be more affected in post mortem brains of PD patients (Damier et al., 1999) as well as in PD-related animal models (German et al., 1992; Dopeso-Reyes et al., 2014), indicating a potential neuroprotective effect of calbindin.