HOUSTONâJustin Friendâs parents have doctoral degrees and have worked as university lecturers and researchers. So Mr. Friend might have been expected to head for a university after graduating from high school in Bryan, Texas, five years ago. Instead, he attended Texas State Technical College in Waco, and received a two-year degree in welding.
A flurry of emergent research has linked mitochondrial dysfunction to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Mitochondrial dysfunction results in impaired ATP generation, loss of cellular repair mechanisms, and cellular inefficiency.
Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the progressive loss of the dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta.The loss of these neurons is associated with a glial response composed mainly of activated microglial cells and, to a lesser extent, of reactive astrocytes.This glial response may be the source of trophic factors and can protect against reactive oxygen species and glutamate.he role of glial cells in Parkinson's disease. Vila M, Jackson-Lewis V, Guegan GuÃ©gan, C WU, Dc Teismann, P CHOI, Dk Tieu, K Przedborski. s