Treatments of Parkinson Disease

Abstract

Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive degenerative neurological disorder characterized by resting tremor, bradykinesia, cogwheel rigidity, and postural instability.1 In the later stages, approximately 25% or more of patients develop cognitive compromise. The cardinal pathological features of PD are degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta and their axons, which project principally to the caudate and putamen, and the presence of eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusions, Lewy bodies.2-3 Although the loss of neurons is most conspicuous in the substantia nigra pars compacta, neuronal loss and/or Lewy bodies are found in other brain regions (eg, the locus coeruleus, entorhinal region, and amygdala),2 which suggests that treatments that target only the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system, though they may substantially benefit patients, are unlikely to completely resolve the deficits of PD.

Quantitative1H Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging Determines Therapeutic Immunization Efficacy in an Animal Model of Parkinson's Disease

“…Currently, approved treatment modalities for PD remain only palliative (Shults, 2003). We previously demonstrated that attenuation of microglial responses and adoptive transfer of Cop-1-specific immune cells into MPTP-treated animals can achieve glial expres- Figure 3.…”

Postmarketing Surveillance of Corneal Edema, Fuchs Dystrophy, and Amantadine Use in the Veterans Health Administration

“…1 Its anti-Parkinson properties also make it useful for the management of Parkinson disease. 2 There have been 3 cases of amantadine-associated corneal edema reported in the literature. [3][4][5] In each patient, bilateral corneal edema resolved within days to weeks after discontinuing the medication.…”

Rasagiline in treatment of Parkinson’s disease

“…PD treatment has largely involved strategies to correct the underlying dopamine deficit. However, management of patients with long standing disease is often complicated by development of cognitive and behavioral symptoms, resulting from medication side effects and/or development of extranigral disease, which may involve other neurotransmitter systems than dopamine (Tanner 2000;Shults 2003;Lang 2007). Neuropsychiatric symptoms that have been associated with PD therapy include hallucinations, depression, confusion, impulse control disorders, sleep disorders, daytime somnolence, and sleep attacks.…”