Preclinical Solutions for Insight in Premotor Parkinson

Abstract

2.1 Etiology of Parkinson's disease Although Parkinson's disease has been studied for almost 200 years, the precise mechanisms leading to progressive cell death still need to be resolved; the actual cause and the mechanism(s) associated with the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease are still unknown. However, it has been proposed that several factors including oxidative stress, excitotoxicity, mitochondrial dysfunction, environmental toxins, proteasome dysfunction, inflammatory aspects and genetic defects may contribute to the neurodegenerative process causing Parkinson's disease. Whatever the cause is, it is clear that Parkinson's disease is a multi-factorial disorder resulting from the combined effect of age, environmental factors, genetic susceptibility and complex genetic-environmental interactions (Fig. 1) (