Introduction to week 4

Parkinson’s disease is another of the best known neurodegenerative diseases. And it is in this pathology in which we are going to deepen this week. Probably upon hearing Parkinson’s disease, one of its best known symptoms,tremor, comes to mind. But there are many others that can develop during the progression of the disease, the most remarkable are the motor symptoms, but also others such as sleep problems, low blood pressure or gastrointestinal dismotility. In this way, we will learn which brain areas are affected, and, therefore, responsible for the effects that the progression of this disease has on patients. In this case, as we have said, movement is very important, so we are going to study the so-called “movement circuit” or “basal ganglia circuit”.

Who does it affect? Are there factors that facilitate the onset of pathology? Or is there a genetic component? These are some of the questions we will answer in the first part of the week. Another important aspect, which we want to address, of course, is what treatment options do patients have right now. In this pathology very innovative therapies are being developed, not only based on pharmacological treatments, but also on surgical interventions. So it will be interesting to know the latest advances in both basic and clinical research, well as palliative treatments that may be necessary to improve the quality of life of patients.

Finally, remind you that this week will be at your disposal the complementary material on the main pathogenic events that are developed in neurodegenerative diseases. This week we will discuss inflammation, oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage in detail. This material is not part of the content to be evaluated, so it will be useful to those students who want to deepen their knowledge of neurodegerative diseases.