Parkinson's Disease Research Paper

Parkinson's Disease is a literally crippling neurodegenerative disorder, manifested in about 1% of the aged population. People who have Parkinson's Disease gradually lose control of their movements; specific symptoms include, "tremor, slowness of movement, stiffness, difficulty in walking, and loss of balance." (1) Evidence strongly suggests that Parkinson's Disease is the result of severe cell loss in the substantia nigra. This brain structure is principally involved in the production of dopamine. (2) Dopamine, among other functions, is the neurotransmitter involved in initiation of movement. Hence, the link between dopaminergic cell loss and cessation of voluntary movement, as manifested

Parkinson disease (PD), also referred to as Parkinson’s disease and paralysis agitans, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is the third most common neurologic disorder of older adults. It is a debilitating disease affecting motor ability and is characterized by four cardinal symptoms: tremor rigidity, bradykinesia or kinesis (slow movement/no movement), and postural instability. Most people have primary, or idiopathic, disease. A few patients have secondary parkinsonian symptoms from conditions such as brain tumors and certain anti-psychotic drugs.

The explanation of the processes in the nervous system, which lead to the distressing results of a completely changed lifestyle as well as behavior, is important for understanding the origins of the disease. For all movements/actions the body performs, the brain gathers information about the body position which comes together in the striatum. The striatum, in cooperation with the substantia nigra and other parts of the brain, sends out commands for balance and coordination. The substantia nigra produces dopamine, the neurotransmitter which is crucial to human movement and controlling of balance. In Parkinson's disease, there is a dying off of the nerve cells producing dopamine in the substantia nigra, resulting in a large loss of dopamine in the brain, which causes a disbalance in the dopamine/acetylcholine cooperation. (6)The effects are a lack of coordination of movements, manifesting through tremor, stiff muscles, difficult moving.

The National Parkinson's Foundation estimates that each PD patient pays $2500 a year on medicines alone. When accounting for Social Security and nursing home payments, Parkinson's Disease costs over $5.6 billion annually to the nation (PD Web, 1998). Despite the high occurrence of Parkinson's, it is still not always recognized as a significant medical problem. The symptoms are often ignored in the elderly because they are thought to be part of the natural process of aging (PD Web, 1998). Symptoms include tremors in hands, arms, legs, jaw, and face; slowness of movement, or bradykinesia, and difficulties in balance and coordination. As the chronic disease progresses, PD patients may have difficulty with simple tasks, such as walking and talking (PD Web, 1998). Much of the oversight of PD in medical research, and of other neurodegnerative diseases associated with elderly populations, like Alzheimers, could be a reflection of a dismissive attitude towards the aging process in the medical community and American culture.

What exactly is Parkinson’s? Known commonly as a movement disorder. It affects movement, muscle control, and balance. “It is the second most common progressive neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease, and the second most prevalent and disabling condition in the expanding elderly population” (Mikkelsen,Stinson, 2011, pg xix). For those that aren’t aware what neurodegenerative means it’s simply the loss of nerve cells. Nerve cells which are also known as neurons are located in the nervous system. Neurons are broken down into three different types. They are sensory (receptor), motor (effector), and interneurons (connector). Each one of these neurons plays a different role in the nervous system. The purpose of neurons is to receive incoming information and in return send signals to other neurons, muscles or glands. Neurons are made up of three parts. First the cell body which controls the neuron

One of the pathologic features that we are sure of is that in Parkinson’s disease there is a loss of dopaminergic pigmented neurons in the substantia nigra and dopaminergic deficiency in the putamen portion of the striatum. In Parkinson’s disease there is a loss of dopamine in other areas of the brain, too. There is also austere degeneration of basal ganglia and those dopaminergic pathways to the basal ganglia. This degeneration leads to decreased activity of the direct motor pathways, which normally facilitate movement, and increased activity of the indirect motor loop which normally inhibits movement. Another words, we have two different pathways that have deteriorated and are amplifying our inability to move. In the presence of Parkinson’s disease Lewy bodies are also present and are markers for neuronal degeneration (McCance,

Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized mainly by physical and psychological disabilities. This disorder was named after James Parkinson, an English physician who first described it as shaking palsy in 1817 (Goetz, Factr, and Weiner, 2002). Jean- Martin Charcot, who was a French neurologist, then progressed and further refined the description of the disease and identified other clinical features of PD (Goetz, Factr, and Weiner, 2002). PD involves the loss of cells that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine in a part of the brain stem called the substansia nigra, which results in several signs and symptoms (Byrd, Marks, and Starr, 2000). It is manifested clinically by tremor,

Parkinson’s Disease is known as one of the most common progressive and chronic neurodegenerative disorders. It belongs to a group of conditions known as movement disorders. Parkinson disease is a component of hypokinetic disorder because it causes a decreased in bodily movement. It affects people who are usually over the age of 50. It can impair an individual motor as well as non-motor function. Some of the primary symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are characterized by tremors or trembling in hands, legs and arms. In early symptoms the tremor can be unilateral, appearing in one side of body but progression in the disease can cause it to spread to both sides; rigidity or a resistant to movement affects most people with Parkinson’s disease,

Parkinson Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease symptomized by tremor, muscular rigidity, and slow imprecise movements. Typically, the disease affects middle-aged and elderly individuals. PD is associated with degeneration of the basal ganglia of the brain causing a deficiency of the neurotransmission of dopamine.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a type of progressive brain disorder in the human body. Brain activity becomes disrupted when nerve cells that produce dopamine start to break down. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is responsible for movement. When it’s at extremely low levels, one would experience symptoms such as slower movement, shakiness, problems with posture, and stiff muscles. Unfortunately, Parkinson’s is incurable, but there are different types of treatments to help slow down the progression of the disease.

In 1817, James Parkinson, a British physician, published his essay reporting this disease citing six cases of paralysis agitans. An Essay on the Shaking Palsy described the characteristic resting tremor, abnormal posture and gait, paralysis and diminished muscle strength, and the way that the disease progresses over so it was labeled Parkinson’s disease (PD) in his honor. Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative brain disorder that progresses slowly in most people. Most people's symptoms take years to develop, and they live for years with the disease. In short, a person's brain slowly stops producing a neurotransmitter called dopamine. With less and less dopamine, a person has less and less ability to regulate their movements, body and

Parkinson’s Disease is a movement disorder that gets worse and worse over time. Parkinson’s is mainly found in older people. It is where significant neurons of the brain begin to malfunction and die. Parkinson’s typically affects the neurons in the substantia nigra part of the brain. Some of these important neurons produce a chemical called dopamine that sends signals to the primary motor cortex portion of the brain to control movement. The amount of this chemical decreases as PD advances, causing the individual to lose control over their movement and coordination.

The cause of Parkinson’s Disease is unknown, but researchers speculate that both genetic and environmental factors are involved. Some genes have been linked to the disease.

Parkinson's is caused by the death of brain cells that produce dopamine, one of the chemicals that carry messages between neurons. Low dopamine impairs the basal ganglia, which are brain regions that control movement and coordination. The early signs of this disease is often trembling or shanking of a limb usually when the body is at rest, these first tremors usually begin on one side of the body typically a hand. These tremors can effect arms, legs, feet, and a patients face. Parkinson's disease belongs to a group of conditions called motor system disorders, which are the result of the loss of dopamine-producing brain cells. The four primary symptoms of Parkinson's are tremor, or trembling in hands, arms, legs, jaw, and face; rigidity, or

The Parkinson 's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer 's disease (Lang and Lozano, 1998). It affects about 1% of the population with different ethnic backgrounds throughout the world over the age of 65 (Tanner and Goldman, 1996). The aetiology of Parkinson 's disease is not well understood; however, genetic and environmental factors are thought to play a role (Checkoway and Nelson, 1999). Pathologically, PD is characterised by mitochondrial DNA dysfunction leading to degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (Fig.1) and subsequent reduction in striatal dopamine levels (Longmore, 2014).