Parkinson’s Disease: What Is It? What Causes It? And How Can It Be Cured?

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder of the brain and typically presents with a disorder of movement. The core pathological event underlying the condition is the loss of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway with the formation of a-synuclein positive Lewy bodies. As a result, drugs that target the degenerating dopaminergic network within the brain work well, at least in the early stages of the disease. Unfortunately with time, these therapies fail and produce their own unique side-effect profile and this, coupled to the more diffuse pathological and clinical findings in advancing disease, has led to a search for more effective therapies. In this review, we discuss the epidemiology of PD with an emphasis on risk factors and then discuss the clinical features and pathogenic pathways before considering some of the newer more curative therapies.