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Controversy has surrounded a role for apoptosis in the loss of neurons in Parkinson's disease (PD). Although a variety of evidence has supported an apoptotic contribution to PD neuronal loss particularly in the nigra, two factors have weighed against general acceptance: (1) limitations in the use of in situ 3′ end labeling techniques to demonstrate nuclear DNA cleavage; and (2) the insistence that a specific set of nuclear morphological features be present before apoptotic death could be declared. We first review the molecular events that underlie apoptotic nuclear degradation and the literature regarding the unreliability of 3′ DNA end labeling as a marker of apoptotic nuclear degradation. Recent findings regarding the multiple caspase‐dependent or caspase‐independent signaling pathways that mediate apoptotic nuclear degradation and determine the morphological features of apoptotic nuclear degradation …