Parkinson's Disease Flashcards
Symptoms of PD?
Bradykinesia Resting tremor Rigidity (cogwheel/lead pipe) Sleep disturbances (flailing out) Excessive salivation Shuffling gait Falls Freezing of gate Masked faces Impaired swallowing Anosmia Micrographics
Risk factors?
Family history
Smoking
pesticide exposure
Age (17.4 per 100,000 person years between 50 and 59 increases to 93 per 100,000 person years between 70-79)
What compensatory changes mean PD only manifests when a significant proportion of neurons have been lost in the nigrostiatal pathway?
Increase in TH activity
Increase in postsynaptic dopamine receptors in the striatum
What other dopaminergic pathway may degenerate in PD?
Those from the VTA (mesolimbic may degenerate up to 50%)
What other neurons may degenerate other than dopaminergic ones?
Noradrenergic (locus coeruleus)
Cholinergic (basal forebrain)
These may be responsible for the non motor symptoms of PD
What are the cognitive dysfunctions in PD?
Mood disturbances
Cognitive defects
Dementia
What mood disturbances are seen in PD?
Depression (increases risk of developing dementia)
May be organic or reactionary
Could be due to morphological changes in NA and 5-HT pathways in locus coeruleus and dorsal rap he nucleus
What are the cognitive defects seen in PD?
Degeneration of the mesolimbic pathway
Disturbed processes under frontal lobe control
What factors in PD increase th risk of developing dementia in PD?
Depression
Prominent gait and speech disordered
Poor L-dopa response
What dementias may be associated with PD?
Lewy body dementia
Alzheimer’s (degeneration of the basal nucleus of meynert)
What is psychosis?
The inability to distinguish between the subjective experience and external reality
How many PD patients develop psychoso due to l-dopa treatment?
20-30%
Those with preexisting cognitive defects are at increased risk
How do you treat PD psychosis without making the PD worse?
Reassess patients medication
Pimavanserin (selective serotonin inverse agonist)
Quitiapine
What are Lewy bodies?
The hallmark of PD
Insoluble aggregates of alpha Synuclein
Which stain heavily for eosin
Wha factor determines LB morphology
The neuroanatomical location
Where else can LB be found?
DwLB
multiple system atrophy
Incidental LB pathology (patient who do not have PD…will they have gone on to develop PD?)