Current trends in etiology, prognosis and therapeutic aspects of Parkinson's disease: a review

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a movement disorder, mainly affecting population consisting of the aged. PD occurs chiefly due to progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in nigrostriatal pathway. Largely, PD patients suffer from non-motor symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, fatigue, and sleep disorders, that needs further investigation and addressing during PD research. Depression in PD is a predominant and complex symptom, and its pathology exists extrinsic to the nigrostriatal system. This disease can  ultimately be managed by a combination of regular physiotherapy and proper medication. Taking together the present scenario of PD, including the nature of disease, characteristics, treatment, diagnosis of the patients with PD, these outcomes were reviewed to be explored along with many speech-based solutions to PD in this study. This neurodegenerative disorder needs advancement in  research and development which  can help patients with PD to lead a normal life.

Lactational exposure of phthalate causes long-term disruption in testicular architecture by altering tight junctional and apoptotic protein expression in Sertoli cells of first filial generation pubertal Wistar rats

Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant and a well-known endocrine disruptor (ED) that interferes with the reproductive function in both humans and animals. This study aimed to find out the impact of lactational exposure of DEHP in testes of first filial generation (F1) progeny male rat postnatal day (PND)-60. Lactating dams were orally treated with DEHP (0, 1, 10 and 100 mg/kg body weight/day, respectively) from the PND-1 to PND-21. Rats were killed at PND 60. Testes were removed and used for histological analysis and for isolation of Sertoli cells (SCs). The histoarchitecture of DEHP-treated rats showed disturbed testicular structure. DEHP-treated rats also showed increased oxidative stress by decreasing antioxidant levels in the SCs; it disrupted SC tight junctional proteins occludin, claudin, junctional adhesion molecule, zona occludens protein-1 (ZO-1), zona occludens protein-2 (ZO-2), and afadin-6 (AF-6), increased apoptosis by altering the apoptotic genes Bax, cytochrome c, caspase-8, -9, -3 and antiapoptotic gene Bcl-2. It is concluded that early postnatal exposure to DEHP disturbs histoarchitecture of testis and SC function in pubertal Wistar rats.