Handbook of Parkinson's Disease Mechanisms

Rosario Moratalla is a Professor of Neuroscience, Director of the Center of Interdisciplinary Research and Vice-Chair at the Cajal Institute, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid. Dr. Moratalla's research interests lie on the dopaminergic system and its role in drug abuse and Parkinson's disease. She is interested in the molecular mechanisms that modulate cellular responses in the basal ganglia motor circuit, in the context of Parkinson's disease, L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia and impulse control disorders and drug abuse. In relationship with Parkinson's disease, her studies intend to determine the neurobiological correlates of dyskinesias induced by antiparkinsonian therapy, as well as to establish the neuronal circuits involved in non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Gustavo Murer is Professor and Chair of the Institute of Physiology and Biophysics "Bernardo Houssay" at the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine. Dr. Murer is an expert on the functional alterations that take place in the basal ganglia in Parkinson's disease and other basal ganglia related disorders. His research focuses on the electrophysiological and morphological alterations that take place in the striatum in animal models of Parkinson's disease. His recent investigations examine how chronic dopamine depletion and dopamine replacement therapy produce changes in the activity of basal ganglia neurons, which molecular mechanisms underlie these changes, and how they modify basal ganglia function and behavior.

1. Pathology, postmortem studies, neuromelanin
2. PD epidemiology and PD economic burden
3. Genetic influences and other causes
4. Animal models for the study of PD etiology
5. New cellular and organoid models for the study of PD
6. Lewy bodies, Molecular Interactions of Lewy bodies in the brain
7. Synaptophaty in PD; alpha-syn and tau relationship with PD
8. Parkinson's disease as a synucleinopathy
9. Lysosomal function and protein aggregation in PD
10. Autophagy and mitophagy and neuropathological markers of familiar PD
11. Mitochondrial dysfunction in PD
12. The gut brain axis in PD
13. Dopaminergic neurons susceptibility to degeneration / dysfunction of mitochondria, new PD models
14. Neuroinflammation and microglia
15. Extracellular space modifications and PD
16. Dopamine neurotransmission in Parkinson’s Disease
17. Dopamine effects in striatal and subthalamic nucleus neurons
18. Adaptations that follow partial and severe striatal dopaminergic denervation
19. Molecular mechanisms underlying L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia, role of dopamine receptors
20. Imaging and electrophysiology of direct and indirect pathway neurons in freely moving animals
21. Striatal cholinergic system in PD
22. Striatal serotoninergic system in PD
23. Opto and chemogenetic studies on L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia
24. Network dynamics in rodent PD and LID models
25. Network dynamics in primate models and patients ; effects of DBS on network dynamics
26. Mechanisms underlying impulse control disorders in PD
27. Brain stem mechanism of PD symptoms