Environmental toxins accelerate Parkinson’s disease onset

Several pathologic entities manifest as Parkinson syndrome (PS). The most common is the Lewy body disease also known as idiopathic PD.1 Most PD cases are sporadic and are believed to be caused by exogenous environmental factors.2,3⇓ Autosomal dominant PD with α-synuclein gene mutation4 and autosomal recessive parkinsonism with parkin gene mutation5 have been reported in some families, but in general, genetic mutation is an extremely rare cause of PD.6 von Economo encephalitis, neuroleptics, and 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine are well-known environmental causes of PS; however, the pathology in these disease entities is different from that in PD. If an environmental agent caused PD, every patient would have evidence of exposure to the offending agent—obligate association. There are several epidemiologic reports on environmental factors associated with PD, but no exogenous factor has been consistently linked to PD. …