Neuroprotective therapies

Though effective symptomatic therapies for Parkinson's disease exist, curre ntly no treatment is proven to slow the progression of the underlying disea se. Our growing understanding of the mechanisms of neuronal models, however , offers hope that neuroprotective strategies will soon be a standard part of the treatment of PD. Current approaches to the development of neuroprote ctive strategies are based on the hypothesized roles of oxidative stress an d excitotoxicity in the degenerative process. in this article, we review ev idence in support of these hypotheses as well as attempts to achieve neurop rotection in PD based on these and other mechanisms.