Dopaminergic Neurons and how they relate to Parkinsons

Dopaminergic Neurons and how they relate to Parkinson’s Disease

Neurons -Specialized nerve cell -About 100 billion in the brain -Main part of the nervous system! -Three types (motor, sensory, interneuron)

Picture of a Neuron (Structure) Dendrites send neural signals through axon terminals, which are picked up by the axon endings

Dopaminergic Neuron-Type of Neuron -At the neuron level -Dopamine is a chemical released by nerve cells to send to other nerve cells (neurotransmitter) -The dendrites receive such signals

Location of Most Dopaminergic neurons -Located in substantia nigra pars compacta part of human brain -Generally, relatively less DAergic neurons; in C. elegans (which has 302 neurons), only 8 of them are dopaminergic! (2 ADE, 2 PDE, 4 CPE) 6 are in head, 2 are in tail

Functions of Dopaminergic Neurons -Help with body functions -Make you happy (reward-motivated behavior, which also led to mankind producing stimulants like cocaine to increase dopamine) -Motor Control -Release of important hormones

If there are more of the DAergic neurons. . . then diseases like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s are less likely to occur -Dopamine Neurons regulate: voluntary movement, mood, reward, addiction, stress so even though they may be few in numbers, they are really important!

Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms -NO KNOWN CAUSE as to why the dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra pars compacta suddenly degenerate, but this loss of DAergic neurons = neural level symptom -Other symptoms/effects of Parkinson’s Disease: tremor (motor), slow movement, rigidity, unstable posture. . . etc.

So the next question: What can be done to increase DAergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta part of the brain of a person who has Parkinson’s Disease?

Exercise? -In C. elegans (a model organism that has a neural wiring that is similar to a microcosm of our own), locomotion at an early stage does help -Still tentative research, though

Dopaminergic neurons (#1)

Dopaminergic neurons #2

Exercise Could Possibly Help Research last year And in general, exercise increasing neurogenesis Why exactly, though?

EXPERTS DON’T KNOW Parkinson’s is a progressive disease, meaning that the dopaminergic neurons just keep on degenerating, on and on. . .

BUT we do know some causes: -Nothing on the neural level, but some links: -Exposure to pesticides leads to Parkinson’s Disease -Presence of clumped Lewy bodies; Asynuclein is found within Lewy bodies (again, to solve this, exercise is being tested)

To Sum up: We should care about dopaminergic neurons because: -they make us happy -they help regulate stress, behavior -too less of them --> neurodegenerative disorders, like Parkinson’s Disease or Alzheimer’s Disease!

Thanks for listening! sources: NCBI Parkinson’s Disease Foundation