What is believed to cause parkinson's disease?

Slow death of nerve : Death of Dopamine secreting nerve cells in substantial migra area, later on wide spread slow death of nerve cells in the brain. What causes death of nerve cell is mostly unknown although lot of factors are considered.

Dopamine Cell Loss: Polymers of a-synuclein protein form into "clumps" (intraneuronal inclusions) due to faulty "trash removal" processes in the neurons. As a result, cellular activity is disrupted. Other problems, such as oxidative stress causing mitochondria damage (energy producing portion of cell) lead to programmed cell death, or "apoptosis." many other facets of this cascade of problems are yet to be understood.

BUT, Rx Available!!!: Dopamine meds are mainstay of treatment. Modern therapy recommends longer lasting, milder potency meds first: Azilect (mao-b selective inhibitor) & Dopamine agonists (requip xl/mirapex er/neupro). After they've been maximized & stronger meds are needed to adequately manage symptoms, then sinemet +/- Comtan (stalevo (carbidopa and levodopa and entacapone) is both together) are begun. Tailor rx with side effects in mind for each person.

Parkinson's Disease: Parkinson's disease is most commonly idiopathic, (no known cause). A small number, can be attributed to genetic factors. Other factors have been associated with the risk of developing pd, although no causal relationships have been proven. Some of these have to do with prior head trauma (mohammed ali is an example).