Inflammatory response in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common age-related neurodegenerative diseases, which results from a number of environmental and inherited factors. PD is characterized by the slow progressive degeneration of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra. The nigrostriatal DA neurons are particularly vulnerable to inflammatory attack. Neuroinflammation is an important contributor to the pathogenesis of age-related neurodegenerative disorders, such as PD, and as such anti-inflammatory agents are becoming a novel therapeutic focus. This review will discuss the current knowledge regarding inflammation and review the roles of intracellular inflammatory signaling pathways, which are specific inflammatory mediators in PD. Finally, possible therapeutic strategies are proposed, which may downregulate inflammatory processe's and inhibit the progression of PD.