Parkinson's disease: Exit toxins, enter genetics

Parkinson's disease was long considered a non-hereditary disorder. Despite extensive research trying to find environmental risk factors for the disease, genetic variants now stand out as the major causative factor. Since a number of genes have been implicated in the pathogenesis it seems likely that several molecular pathways and downstream effectors can affect the trophic support and/or the survival of dopamine neurons, subsequently leading to Parkinson's disease. The present review describes how toxin-based animal models have been valuable tools in trying to find the underlying mechanisms of disease, and how identification of disease-linked genes in humans has led to the development of new transgenic rodent models. The review also describes the current status of the most common genetic susceptibility factors for Parkinson's disease identified up to today.