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Molecular Biology of Parkinson's Disease

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Molecular Biology of Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Part of the book series: Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology ((NUCLEIC,volume 23))

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Abstract

Parkinson's disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative movement disorders of non specific etiology. It is characterized by tremor at rest, bradykinesia, rigidity, and in more advanced cases, postural instability. The most important environmental factors such as neurotropic infective agents, neurotoxins like heavy metals and pesticides are considered as major culprit to initiate the disease. So far, mutations in eight genes (SNCA, PRKN, PINK1, DJ-1, MAPT, UCH-L1, ATP13A2 and LRRK2) are reported for the familial form of Parkinson's disease. Genetic, neuropathological and neurochemical studies on substantia nigra from Parkinson patients and animal models have focused on several pathogenic processes at the time of neuronal death. A few potential contributing factors have been established to play crucial role in the development of Parkinson's disease. Most of these factors are involved in ongoing selective oxidative stress resulting from mitochondrial dysfunction, auto-oxidation or enzymatic (monoamine oxidase) oxidation of dopamine, excessive iron accumulation in the substantia nigra pars compacta and genetic susceptibility. In the following sections the role of each of these factors are explained in detail.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine4, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, ACHRI, 1120 Marshall Street, Little Rock, AR, 72202, USA

    Abbas Parsian & Biswanath Patra

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  1. Abbas Parsian
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  2. Biswanath Patra
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Correspondence to Abbas Parsian .

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  1. Center for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry (CCRN), Graylands Hospital, Claremont, WA, 6910, Australia

    Dieter B. Wildenauer

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Parsian, A., Patra, B. (2009). Molecular Biology of Parkinson's Disease. In: Wildenauer, D.B. (eds) Molecular Biology of Neuropsychiatric Disorders. Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology, vol 23. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85383-1_9

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