Inflammation as a causative factor in the aetiology of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting mainly the elderly, although a small proportion of PD patients develop the illness at a much younger age. In the former group, idiopathic PD patients, the causes of the illness have been the subject of longstanding debate with environmental toxins, mitochondrial dysfunction, abnormal protein handling and oxidative stress being suggested. One problem has been that the epidemiology of PD has offered few clues to provide evidence for a single major causative factor. Comparatively recently it has been found that in both patients and experimental models of PD in animals neuroinflammation appears to be a ubiquitous finding. These cases…