Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0030567 (Parkinson's disease)
 63,064 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Available information on organochlorines and the chronic effects of exposure to them are set out. Organochlorinated compounds are the most persistent pesticides and can be found in all ecosystems. Although they are generally efficient in pest control, they are also a potent environment pollutant and can provoke health problems in man. The evidences of the carcinogenic potential of organochlorines are controversial and insufficient, but they have been related to an increase in the incidence of some kinds of tumors, such as leukemia and solid tumors. Reproductive effects, due to anti-androgenic and estrogenic action, on embryonic virilization, the incidence of abortion and the frequency of prematurity, have also been observed. The accumulation of the organochlorines in the adipous tissue is positively correlated to the increase in aging and could be implicated in the development of aging diseases, such as Parkinson's disease. The effects of pesticides on human health have not yet been completely elucidated. Genotoxicity is one of the most serious of the possible harmful effects caused by these compounds and calls for special attention in view of the irreversible nature of the process and to the long latency associated with its manifestation.
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PMID:[Delayed effects of organochlorine pesticides in man]. 987 30

The incidence of certain neurological disorders, including Parkinson's disease, appears to be more prevalent in men. Studies involving estrogen treatment of ovariectomised rodents attribute this largely to the neuroprotective effects of estrogen. However, a neuroprotective role for physiological levels of circulating hormones in males and females is less clear. Using the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) model of Parkinson's disease to lesion the nigrostriatal dopaminergic (NSDA) pathway, we have shown that in females, endogenously produced estrogen is neuroprotective, whereas in males, gonadal factors increase striatal 6-OHDA toxicity. Intriguingly, estrogen, but not dihydrotestosterone, a nonaromatizable androgen, reversed the effects of orchidectomy on lesion size, raising the novel the hypothesis that enhanced male susceptibility may be attributable to the effects of endogenous testosterone only after its aromatization to estrogen. Thus, estrogen appears to exert opposite effects in the NSDA in males and females, being neuroprotective in females, but not in males, where it may even exacerbate neurodegenerative responses, with important implications for the clinical potential of estrogen-related compounds as neuroprotective agents. Preliminary experiments support the hypothesis that sex differences in the adult NSDA may result from the organisational actions of gonadal steroids during the critical neonatal period for the masculinization of the brain. Further studies are needed to determine whether this early organisation of a sexually differentiated neural circuitry may contribute to the emergence of neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson's disease.
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PMID:Sex dimorphisms in the neuroprotective effects of estrogen in an animal model of Parkinson's disease. 1525 Dec 60