Gabriel S Rocha, Marco Aurelio M Freire, Daniel Falcao, Tiago F Outeiro, Rafael R Lima, Jose Ronaldo Santos
{"title":"Neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease: are we looking at the right spot?","authors":"Gabriel S Rocha, Marco Aurelio M Freire, Daniel Falcao, Tiago F Outeiro, Rafael R Lima, Jose Ronaldo Santos","doi":"10.1186/s13041-025-01218-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Parkinson's disease (PD) is recognized as the fastest-growing neurodegenerative disorder, impacting millions of individuals worldwide. It is primarily characterized by cardinal motor symptoms, including bradykinesia (slowness of movement), tremor, rigidity, and postural instability, which significantly impair the quality of life of those affected. Traditionally, the prevailing hypothesis has attributed these motor symptoms to the degeneration and subsequent loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). Currently, emerging research suggests that this neuron-centric view may be overly simplistic and not entirely accurate. In light of this, growing attention has turned to the role of axons within the nigrostriatal pathway-an extensive network connecting the substantia nigra to the striatum, essential for both dopamine transmission and the overall functioning of the motor control by the brain. By directing a focus toward this aspect, in this nano review article we examine why nigrostriatal axons deserve increased attention and should be considered a pivotal target for further therapeutic strategies in PD.</p>","PeriodicalId":18851,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Brain","volume":"18 1","pages":"68"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12315329/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Molecular Brain","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13041-025-01218-6","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"NEUROSCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Parkinson's disease (PD) is recognized as the fastest-growing neurodegenerative disorder, impacting millions of individuals worldwide. It is primarily characterized by cardinal motor symptoms, including bradykinesia (slowness of movement), tremor, rigidity, and postural instability, which significantly impair the quality of life of those affected. Traditionally, the prevailing hypothesis has attributed these motor symptoms to the degeneration and subsequent loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). Currently, emerging research suggests that this neuron-centric view may be overly simplistic and not entirely accurate. In light of this, growing attention has turned to the role of axons within the nigrostriatal pathway-an extensive network connecting the substantia nigra to the striatum, essential for both dopamine transmission and the overall functioning of the motor control by the brain. By directing a focus toward this aspect, in this nano review article we examine why nigrostriatal axons deserve increased attention and should be considered a pivotal target for further therapeutic strategies in PD.
期刊介绍:
Molecular Brain is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers manuscripts on all aspects of studies on the nervous system at the molecular, cellular, and systems level providing a forum for scientists to communicate their findings.
Molecular brain research is a rapidly expanding research field in which integrative approaches at the genetic, molecular, cellular and synaptic levels yield key information about the physiological and pathological brain. These studies involve the use of a wide range of modern techniques in molecular biology, genomics, proteomics, imaging and electrophysiology.