Deep Brain Stimulation and Neuroprotection

Abstract

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is characterized by a nigral degenerescence of dopaminergic neurons, which are responsible for the deregulation of parallel processing systems of loop from the cortex to the striatum and the basal ganglia. Palliative treatment by administration of dopamine agonists or dopamine precursors is the current medical treatment. Inactivation by different means (lesion or high-frequency stimulation which is supposed to be inhibitory) are the current surgical methods to palliate the symptoms. Replacement of the missing neurotransmitter dopamine by grafts of competent cells, mainly into the striatum, close to the dopamine receptors of the striatal cells, is another approach which is still at the experimental level although a large number of preliminary clinical trials have been done. The question of how to find ways to slow down, stop, or reverse this degenerescence, instead of treating Parkinson’s disease symtoms, at the level of the consequences of dopaminergic nigral degenerescence, is another totally different approach, which will be either a preventive treatment or a restorative treatment instead of a palliative treatment. This can be achieved either for pharmacological approaches, or by designing a surgical procedure, which would be able to interfere with this degenerative process.