The distribution of iron in the SN has been localized to NM-containing neurons, microglia, and astrocytes. NM is the principal iron storage site and plays an important role in intraneuronal iron homeostasis in dopaminergic neurons of the SN26. By visual comparison, we found that the paramagnetic hypointense foci with decreased T2* values within the dorsolateral SN corresponded well to the clusters of NM-containing neurons, although not accompanied by sufficient amounts of stainable iron pigments.