Year: 1997
Type: dissertation
Abstract: At present, Parkinson's disease (PO), after Alzheimer's disease, is generally\nconsidered to be the most frequent progressive neurodegenerative disease in the\nelderly. Due to the growing proportion of elderly in many populations, more and more\npersons will be affected by this disabling disease which constitutes a large burden to\nman and society. Since the publication of James Parkinson's essay, almost two\ncenturies have elapsed and, in spite of numerous efforts to unravel the nature of the\ndisease, the etiology of PO is still unknown. Yet, the neuropathologic and biochemical\nchanges that cause the signs of the disease seem to be settled, based on knowledge that was mainly accumulated in only the past three decades. Neuropathologically, PO\nis defined by selective degeneration of pigmented neurons of the pars compacta of\nthe substantia nigra and other brainstem ganglia, with cytoplasmic inclusions, called\nLewy bodies, in the surviving neurons as the hallmark. These lesions lead to a\ndeficiency of striatal dopamine. It is now considered that parkinsonian signs only\nbecome clinically overt after dopaminergic cell loss of approximately 50% and that\nat that moment the endogeneous dopamine content is depleted by 80%.
Author: Maarten de Rijk
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Neurology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W41076960