Parkinson's disease is a progressive movement disorder that impairs functions of the nervous system. It causes nerve cells in the substantia nigra to die, reducing dopamine and impairing messages between the brain and body. This leads to classic Parkinson's symptoms like tremors, slow movement, muscle stiffness, and balance and coordination problems. Over one million Americans suffer from Parkinson's as it has no cure and only worsens over time.

1. The Brain
&
Parkinson’s Disease

2. Find an example of everyday neurobiology in
your life.
 Example: Father-in-law who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease is the
inspiration for this assignment and my example.

3. Parkinson’s Disease is a movement
disorder that is not curable and only gets
worse over time. This disorder dramatically
effects how a person interacts with the
world from a mobility and communication
perspective.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

4. Symptoms
1. Tremors in hands, arms, legs, and face
2. Slow movement
3. Problem walking, maintaining balance and coordination
4. Problems eating and chewing
5. Problems speaking
6. Problem with digestion
7. Altered memory and thought processes
8. Muscle rigidity

5. One million Americans suffer from Parkinson's Disease.
Part of the nervous system that is active in Parkinson’s Disease:

6. Describe the functions of the nervous system that are impaired in Parkinson’s
Disease
• Nerve cells in substantia nigra produce dopamine and directly responsible for the planning
and control of body movement
• Parkinson’s Disease causes substantia nigra to die off
• This in turn causes the classis PD symptoms of tremors, slow movement, muscles getting stiff, and
problems maintaining balance.
• Ganglia is responsible for controlling body movement
• Striatum and substantia nigra use spinal cord to send messages back and for to brain
• Basal Ganglia and cerebellum work together to help make movements smooth and fluid

7. Functions continued…
• Parkinson’s Disease causes the reduction of dopamine in striatum
• This affects the basal ganglia, which in turn affects the subthalamic nucleus (STN)
by causing it to become overactive.
• The STN then affects the globus pallidus interna (GPi) by putting a brake on it,
which leads to:
1. Muscle rigidity
2. Motion problems
• The overstimulation of the Gpi will also lead to an over-inhibitory effect on
the thalamus. This in turn leads to a decrease in the output of the
thalamus, which in turn leads to tremors.

8. Function Overiew
• Parkinson’s Disease causes:
• Dopamine nerve cells to die
• Stiffness and tremors occur because the reduction in dopamine means that
there is not enough dopamine to transmit messages sent from the nerve cells
• This process utilizes the processes previously discussed

9. How has this course allowed me to better analyze
events and phenomena around me?
• I’m currently working on my PhD in Clinical Psychology.
• This course has helped to provided me a deeper understanding of:
1. How the brain works
2. The processes involved
3. How the different parts of the brain interact
4. The complexity of the brain
5. How as a psychologist there are a lot of factors that I need to consider
concerning the brain and how it works that was never covered in-depth in my
PhD program.