The mechanism underlying pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease and the progress in its therapeutics / 医学研究生学报

ABSTRACT

Parkinson′s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. The clinical manifestations of PD include motor and non-motor symptoms. There are around 5 millions PD patients in China, accounting for half of the total PD cases in the world. The mechanisms underlying PD pathogenesis remain to be elucidated, but it is widely accepted that abnormal protein aggregation, mitochondria dysfunction, and oxidative stress are the key causative factors of PD. The regular treatment for PD includes medication of which L-dopa is the most commonly prescribed, surgical treatment, and physiotherapy. In recent year, with the progress in biotechnology and understanding of mechanisms underlying PD, novel therapeutics such as cell replacement, gene therapy, deep brain stimulation emerge, which substantially benefit the treatment of PD. In present review, based on the molecular mechanisms underlying PD pathogenesis, we summarized and discussed current therapeutic strategy on PD.