2-Minute Neuroscience: Parkinson’s Disease
In this video, I go over Parkinson’s condition– the 2nd most usual neurodegenerative disease behind Alzheimer’s disease. The most common treatment for Parkinson’s illness entails the management of L-DOPA, a precursor to dopamine that allows the mind to manufacture more of the natural chemical to renew diminished dopamine degrees.
TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome to 2-minute neuroscience, where I clarify neuroscience topics in 2 minutes or much less. In this installation I will talk about Parkinson’s condition.
Since it entails the degeneration and also death of neurons, Parkinson’s disease is considered a neurodegenerative condition. It is most often seen in grownups over the age of 50.
The most identifiable symptoms of Parkinson’s originally are movement-related and normally include a shake that is worse when a person is at remainder, bradykinesia, which is sluggishness of motion, rigidity, and also postural impairment. Parkinson’s individuals additionally frequently experience non-motor signs like cognitive disability or psychiatric symptoms. The sources of Parkinson’s are not fully comprehended, yet a mix of environmental and also hereditary aspects is likely entailed.
Parkinson’s patients have low degrees of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the basic ganglia, a team of structures involved with activity (among other functions). These low dopamine levels in the basic ganglia are brought on by the fatality of dopamine nerve cells in a region of the basic ganglia called the substantia nigra. The substantia nigra has high varieties of dopamine nerve cells, but by the end stages of Parkinson’s people have actually typically shed over half of the dopamine nerve cells in this area.
One of the most typical therapy for Parkinson’s entails an effort to restore depleted dopamine levels in the basic ganglia. Because dopamine does not go across the blood-brain obstacle, dopamine can not just be provided to an individual. Rather, nonetheless, patients can be provided a forerunner to dopamine called L-DOPA. L-DOPA can go across the blood-brain obstacle and also is utilized by the mind to synthesize even more dopamine. This can cause enhancement in the electric motor signs of Parkinson’s, however L-DOPA does not halt the neurodegeneration that takes place in parkinson’s disease, and long-lasting use of L-DOPA can cause a number of adverse effects, consisting of movement-related issues. So it is not a cure for the illness and also other treatments are still being explored.
REFERENCE:
Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, Hall WC, Lamantia AS, McNamara JO, White LE. Neuroscience. 4th ed. Sunderland, MA. Sinauer Associates; 2008.
