Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's Disease

Introduction:

Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative disease, slowly progressive but gradual, involving, primarily, some functions such as the control of movement and balance. The disease is part of a group of diseases called Movement Disorders, and among these is the most frequent. The symptoms of Parkinson's are perhaps known for thousands of years: a first description would be found in a paper of Indian medicine dating back to 5000 BC and another in a Chinese document dating back to 2,500 years ago. The name is linked, however, to James Parkinson, a London surgeon chemist of the nineteenth century, who first described most of the symptoms of the disease (Duvoisin & Sage, 2001).

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The disease is found throughout the world and in all ethnic groups. It is found in both sexes, with a slight predominance, perhaps, in the male.

The average age of onset is around 58-60 years, but about 5% of patients may have a juvenile onset between 21 and 40 years.

Before age 20 is extremely rare. Parkinson's disease is a slowly progressive neurological disorder.

It relates to certain areas of the brain, which are involved in the control of voluntary and involuntary movement (Cummings, 1992).

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The causes are not yet known. It seems that there are many elements that contribute to its development. These factors are mainly:

Some of the known mutations are associated with Parkinson's disease. Among the genes identified the most important ones are: alpha-syncline, (PARK 1/PARK 4), parkin (PARK-2), PINK1 (PARK-6), DJ-1 (PARK-7), LRRK2 (PARK-8) and glucocerebrosidase GBA

Approximately 20% of patients have a positive family history for the disease.

It is estimated that family members of people with Parkinson's disease deviating from the general population, a risk of developing the disease slightly higher (Rektorova, 2012).

The risk of disease increases with exposure to toxins such as certain pesticides or ...