Case Study #2
Glen, a forty-five years’ man, is diagnosed with Early Onset Parkinson’s disease after experiencing hand tremors, muffling, and shuffling. Parkinson’s disease is a progressive condition of the central nervous system that results from the loss of cell in the brain’s area that produces dopamine. The condition mostly affects people in their early 60s. When a person is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease who are less than fifty years, they are said to have Early Onset Parkinson’s disease. Cristina et al. (2020) dopamine as a type of neurotransmitter that enables the nervous system to send a message between cells. According to Cristina et al., (2020), dopamine influences how people feel pleasure, and it affects the human ability to think and plan. Moreover, Cristina et al., (2020) show that dopamine helps people to focus, strive and see the fun in things. Too little or too much dopamine in the body can cause a range of health complications, including Parkinson’s disease.
According to Klein et al., (2019), chemical transmission involves releasing of chemical messengers referred to as the neurotransmitters. The neurotransmitters help in the transmission of the information from the pre-synaptic (sending cell) to post-synaptic (receiving cell). Klein et al., (2019) indicates that synapse is usually formed between the formed between nerve terminals (axon terminals) on the sending neuron and the dendrites or cell body of the receiving neuron. According to Cristina et al., (2020), an axon cell can have many branches which can allow it to make synapse with multiple post-synaptic cells. Similarly, a neuron can receive many synaptic inputs from diverse sending neurons. The axon terminals of the sending cells have many synaptic vessels inside. Klein et al. (2019)
Show that the synaptic vessels are membrane-bound spheres that are filled with neurotransmitter molecules. Between the axon terminal of the sending neuron and the and the membrane of the sending cell is a small gap referred to as the synaptic cleft.
A neurologist may prescribe dopamine agonist to cure Glen’s condition. According to Cristina et al., (2020), dopamine agonist are prescriptions that imitates dopamine’s action when the levels of the latter are low—acting like dopamine enables this medication to cure conditions that result from the dopamine deficiency. Neurologists may prescribe Dopamine agonists (DA) to Early Onset of Parkinson’s disease patients. Cristina et al., (2020) shows that DA reliefs Parkinson’s disease symptoms treats the condition for people who are less than sixty years, and has low side effects compared to other treatments of the disease.
Genetic factors are some causes of early-onset Parkinson’s disease. If genetic testing reveals that Glen carries a gene responsible for the early onset of Parkinson’s disease, it would be recommendable to carry out a genetic test on his children. Since genes are hereditary, the test would reveal if Glen’s children have an autosomal dominant mutation. The recognition of the genes would help in improving the prevention measures against the condition.
Cristina, T. P., Pablo, M., Teresa, P. M., Lydia, V. D., Irene, A. R., Araceli, A. C., … & Rocío, G. R. (2020). A genetic analysis of a Spanish population with early-onset Parkinson’s disease. PLOS ONE, 15(9), e0238098.
Klein, M. O., Battagello, D. S., Cardoso, A. R., Hauser, D. N., Bittencourt, J. C., & Correa, R. G. (2019). Dopamine: functions, signalling, and association with neurological diseases. Cellular and molecular neurobiology, 39(1), 31-59.