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Chapter One
The Etiopathogenesis of Parkinson's
Disease: Basic Mechanisms of
Neurodegeneration
C. Warren Olanow and Kevin McNaught
Department of Neurology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA
INTRODUCTION
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a slowly progressive, neurodegenerative
movement disorder characterized clinically by
bradykinesia, rigidity, tremor and postural instability
(Lang and Lozano, 1998; Lang and Lozano, 1998). PD is
the second most common neurodegenerative illness (after
Alzheimer's disease), and both incidence and prevalence
rates increase with aging. As life expectancy of the general
population rises, both the occurrence and prevalence of
PD are likely to increase dramatically (Dorsey et al., 2007).
Levodopa is the mainstay of current treatment, but long-term
therapy is associated with motor complications and
advanced disease is associated with non-dopaminergic
features such as falling and dementia, which are not controlled
with current therapies and are the major source of
disability. These t ... read full excerpt from Therapeutics of Parkinson's Disease and Other Movement Disorders ebook
