Aunt Bean,

What solvent were you using?

There's a lot of epidemiological evidence linking exposure to some solvents and PD. For instance, in 2010 the BBC reported research showing [1]:

' a "significant association" between TCE exposure and Parkinson's and suggest exposure to the solvent was likely to result in a six-fold increase in the chances of developing the disease.

The study also adjudged exposure to two other solvents, perchloroethylene (PERC) and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), "tended towards significant risk of developing the disease".

No statistical link was found with the other three solvents examined in the study - toluene, xylene and n-hexane.'

In animal studies, it has been found [2] that:

"oral administration of trichloroethylene induced a significant loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta in a dose-dependent manner, whereas the number of both cholinergic and GABAergic neurons were not decreased in the striatum."

See also the thread from 2012 by Olsen [3].

Reference

[1] "Study links Parkinson's disease to industrial solvent"
Neil Bowdler
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15639440

[2] "Trichloroethylene induces dopaminergic neurodegeneration in Fisher 344 rats"
Mei Liu,* Dong-Young Choi,* Randy L. Hunter,* Jignesh D. Pandya,† Wayne A. Cass,* Patrick G. Sullivan,*† Hyoung-Chun Kim,‡ Don M. Gash,* and Guoying Bing*
J Neurochem, Feb 2010
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3535262/

[3] http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...chloroethylene

John