Laura-
Regarding microglia, first think of the problem as an neuroinflammatory process that has multiple possible origins. Among the things that can trigger it are prenatal maternal infections and general aging, the two ends of a spectrum. There are other triggers in between, too. A case of influenza at mid-life for example. The common element is activation of the microglia. In a sense, just what triggered it is immaterial.
Once triggered, the process can be affected by "factors" such as genetics, chemicals, stress, etc. It is the complex interplay between causes, triggers, and factors that make PD a maddening designer disorder.
Age is a big factor. Older microglia are more excitable than younger, so it is relatively common for a, say, 70-year old system to be triggered. Similarly, a newborn exposed to bacterial toxins in the womb, may *after the chemistry changes of puberty* experience a near spontaneous activation that, 20 years later, makes itself known.
Again, the most important thing to understand is that there are multiple causes that set the stage, triggers that raise the curtain, and factors such as the critics in the next day's paper that influence the course of the drama.
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Originally Posted by Conductor71
Thanks all for sharing this explanatory information; I had wondered for quite some time how the microglia, macrophage, and alpha-synuclein all interrelate in the PD environment.
One thing that I have never understood is how everything seems to be chalked up to "aging", so does this mean when an 18 year old young man is diagnosed with PD that this cellular dynamic is occurring in him already; most probably the microglia with antigen, does this mean that he in essence has the brain profile of an 80 year old? In other words, let's pretend we can observe his brain pathology without knowing anything about him other than he seems to have PD, would doctors then guess his age to be much older base on the cell death?
I guess I have a hard time understanding how a 20 or 30 year old can have what looks like a senescent brain. Are we saying that the PD process of neurodegeneration prematurely "ages" the brain? Or might a Young Onset person present with symptoms because his brain has already taken on what is normally a process of aging- the "aged" environment was already there and it results in what looks like PD?
Wow, that is clear as mud. lol If anyone can suss out what I am asking and respond, that would be great!
Laura
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