Causes of Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is caused by a loss of the activity of nerve cells in a part of the brain called the Substantia Nigra. The nerve cells in this section of the brain are responsible for producing a chemical called dopamine.
Dopamine [3] acts as a messenger between parts of the brain and the nervous system that helps to control and coordinate the movements of the body parts. Once there is an injury to these cells or they get damaged, the amount of dopamine produced in the brain is reduced. This causes a reduction in the activity of the part of the brain that controls movement, causing the movements to become slow and abnormal.
The disease is categorized as a progressive one because the loss of nerve cells is a slow process. Also, the symptoms of this medical condition usually starts to develop when about fifty percent (50%) of the nerve cell activity in the substantia nigra has been lost.