Abstract
Parkinson’s disease is a multifaceted illness that requires interdisciplinary approach to be fully addressed. The etiology of the disease is not completely understood, but genetic and environmental cues play important roles. Histological hallmarks of the disease are the accumulation of alpha-synuclein aggregates, mitochondrial changes and loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. The dopaminergic shortage leads to many motor and non-motor symptoms that affect patient quality of life. Current treatments are symptomatic only, for none can stop disease progression or cure it. Among them are intense physical exercise, dopaminergic drug intake, deep brain stimulation and the use of medical cannabis. Dopaminergic drugs help increase the levels of dopamine in the synaptic cleft or stimulate dopamine receptors directly. Intense physical exercise has been proved beneficial and safe. Deep brain stimulation is done by surgically implanting electrodes and has shown immediate improvements. Medical cannabis is being used mostly to fight non-motor symptoms, such as pain, anxiety, appetite loss and depression. Exciting researches are being done with stem cells, animal models and wearable technology, which might answer many current doubts, but finding early markers to detect and stop the disease progression remains a challenge
Keywords
Parkinson disease, Deep brain stimulation, Physical exercise, Medical cannabis, Dopaminergic drugs, Dopaminergic circuitry, Substantia nigra, Nigrostriatal dopaminergic circuitry, Stem cells, Dementia