Causes of Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's disease is caused by the degeneration of the area of the brain in charge of muscle movement. Learn more about how Parkinson's disease affects the body.
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Transcript: Causes of Parkinson's Disease
How Do Nerve Cells Communicate?
The brain is composed of gray and white matter containing millions of nerve cells. These nerve cells, or neurons, communicate through the release of chemicals called neurotransmitters.Once a neuron is stimulated, a neurotransmitter is released from the neuron and it crosses a gap called a synapse; it then binds to a receptor on another neuron, thus passing on a signal.
What Is Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degeneration of the area of the brain responsible for muscle movements, specifically, the pigmented neurons located in the substantia nigra in the midbrain. The destruction of these neurons results in a decreased availability of dopamine, which is a type of neurotransmitter.As a result, nerves in this area cannot send their signal to other nerves in order to direct specific body movements.
Effects of Parkinson's Disease
The result is body tremors, slowness of movement, rigidity and balance problems.Copyrighted animations provided by Blausen Medical.
