Causes Of Parkinson's
What causes Parkinson's?
The simple answer to what causes Parkinsons is that we still don't know. There are leading theories and a lot of research focusing on these theories but we still don't have, with certainty, identification to what's causing Parkinsons disease.
What happens to the substantia nigra in persons who have Parkinson's?
What role do genetics play in acquiring Parkinson's?
For the majority of cases of Parkinsons disease, they don't clearly run in families, in any kind of predictable fashion that we usually think about diseases that run in families. Increasingly, there are genes that are identified that may place people at risk for developing Parkinsons disease. To have that gene alone doesn't mean necessarily that somebody will get Parkinsons disease but it may enable them, under certain circumstances, to develop Parkinsons disease. One is called Parkin, P-A-R-K-I-N, which is found more often in younger people with Parkinsons disease, but also people who are of the typical age to get Parkinsons disease. They have other names, like PINK, not referring to the color, but they are acronyms of biochemical disorders. There's something else called LRRK, too, again referring to some enzymes that are influenced by this disease process.
What role do toxins or illicit drugs play in causing Parkinson's?
What diseases or physical conditions can cause Parkinson's?
There are other things that can look like Parkinsons disease, but not really cause Parkinsons disease by our definition of having those specific brain changes present. Other disorders - there's something called normal pressure hydrocephalus which we think comes as a completely different entity, but it looks like Parkinsons disease sometimes. People who have multiple small strokes may look as though they have Parkinsons disease, but there's no other process that we know of that creates identical changes in the brain, as does Parkinsons disease.
What role do viruses and bacteria play in Parkinson's?
What role does race play in Parkinson's?
What is a 'parkinsonian personality'?
