Parkinson’s Disease is a neurodegenerative disease that affects both motor and non-motor systems in the body, which is characterized by the death of neurons in the brain. There is no cure for Parkinson’s and the only form of treatment at this time is for the management of the motor symptoms, but there is currently no way to slow the progression of the disease. Dopaminergic neurons, neurons that release the neurotransmitter dopamine, are the type of neurons that are dying. By preventing the death of these neurons, we are able to relieve some of the motor symptoms associated with PD. The treatments for PD focus on increasing the amount of dopamine in the brain by inhibiting the breakdown of dopamine.
Everyone loses dopaminergic neurons throughout their life, so individuals that live longer will be more likely to develop PD since they will have a greater loss of dopaminergic neurons. Therefore, PD is largely age-related, but this does not explain why early onset PD occurs. There is evidence to suggest that PD is due to genetic factors. The neurotoxin MPTP has also been shown to play a role in the pathophysiology of PD, and can be related to environmental causes of PD. Oxidative stress, misfolded proteins, and aggregation of α-synuclein are also associated with PD. http://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/medicalpubs/diseasemanagement/neurology/parkinsons-disease/#pathophysiology
PD is diagnosed primarily because of the motor symptoms. If we were better able to detect the non-motor symptoms of PD, then maybe we could diagnose it earlier. Some of the main non-motor symptoms include depression, constipation, and troubles sleeping.
In our discussion group, the question came up that since PD is not life-threatening, does that justify why finding a cure for it is not a high priority of researchers? Although finding a cure is important, it seems logical that there is a higher priority for finding a cure for cancer since it affects more people and it is life-threatening. Despite these facts, there still needs to be more research and money donated to the cause of PD in order to find a cure.