Topic: Molecular Pathophysiology of Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is recognized as the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder. The cardinal symptoms are caused by the progressive degeneration of midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). A number of genes have been discovered to associate with both sporadic and familial forms of PD. Various model systems have been developed to study the pathobiology of PD and provided tremendous insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying DA neurodegeneration. Both cell autonomous e.g. neuronal toxicity and non-autonomous mechanisms, e.g., microglia and astrocyte functions have been investigated to contribute to the disease pathology. The environment factor and gene interactions are believed to play a crucial role in the sporadic PD. Numerous cellular pathways/mechanisms are involved in PD pathogenesis including ER homeostasis, vesicular trafficking, protein degradation pathways, mitochondrial disfunction, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, motor circuit disfunction, prion-like propagation of a-synuclein etc. Based on these mechanism studies, biomarkers and therapeutic targets are being developed.

This Special Issue is to promote the research on the understanding of the pathophysiology and the molecular mechanisms underlying PD, and the research advances on the development of biomarkers and therapeutic targets for PD.

30 Jun 2024