Parkinsons Disease: Unraveling the Mystery :: Biology Essays Research Papers

paralysis agitans Disease Unraveling the Mystery Parkinsons disease, which affects over one million Americans, results in the progressive loss of coordination, unstable posture, and chill (1). In 1817, James Parkinson, after whom the disease was named, was the first to document cases of what he called the shaking palsy and in doing so, began the scientific crusade to determine the causes and musing of the disease (2). The challenge before neuroscientists was to determine the link between Parkinsons behavior and alterations of the nervous system. This task would be accomplished by employing a system of working backwards - - first determining the gross business and so attempting to understand it at a neuronal level.The first feel in linking changes in the brain to Parkinsons behavior occurred in the betimes 1900s with autopsies performed on people who suffered from the disease (2). Such procedures revealed significant cell finis in the midbrain - - more specifically of pigment ed cells that are collectively know as the substantia nigra (black substance, named for the presence of melanin). Because damage to the substantia nigra resulted in impaired motor control, it was logically hypothesized that this area played a persona in the control of doing.With the knowledge that neurotransmitters were the means of communication for the nervous system, autopsy testing in the 1950s of Parkinsons patients showed that dopamine levels in an area close to the substantia nigra, known as the striatum, were only about 10-20% of the levels present in insensible(p) individuals (3). The parallel of the low level of dopamine and the death of cells of the substantia nigra in Parkinsons patients led scientists to postulate that the substantia nigra produces dopamine. When levels were disrupted due to cell death, this would likely lead to a change in stimulation in this area of the brain, which would produce behavior characteristic of Parkinsons.Anatomical research since then has shown that the substantia nigra is part of the basal ganglia, whose other components include the globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus, and striatum (3). done experimentation, a series of nerve signal pathways have been mapped out which military service us to understand how this region of the brain functions to control movement. It has been hypothesized that cells of the frontal cerebral mantle initiate signals for movement (4). (It was concluded that the basal ganglia does not initiate movement because damage to this area as occurs in Parkinsons still allows for uncoerced movement if it were responsible for its initiation, the damage would likely inhibit voluntary movement.