The inflammatory response in the Parkinson brain

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the selective destruction of dopaminergic neurons in the mesencephalon. Other major pathological features of the disease include intracytoplasmic inclusions known as Lewy bodies as well as conspicuous glial reaction consisting of activated microglial cells and astrogliosis. In the past 10 years, tremendous progress has been achieved in our basic understanding of the pathogenesis in this disabling pathology. Among several possible scenarios, accumulating evidence suggests that inflammation- mediated neurotoxicity may play a prominent role in the cascade of events leading to nerve cell death in PD. In this review. we summarize these findings and discuss most recent advances regarding the role of inflammatory processes in the mechanism of nerve cell death in PD. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.