Oxidative stress in Parkinson's disease: Role in neurodegeneration and targets for therapeutics

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative movement disorder affecting millions of predominantly elderly people worldwide and remains essentially untreatable. The underlying mechanisms of selective dopaminergic neurodegeneration in the substantia nigra pars compacta in PD are still poorly understood and the sufferings of the victims of the disease are unimaginable. Intense research endeavors have been directed in delineating the molecular events in the etiopathogenesis of PD. Oxidative stress stands at the forefront amongst several plausible hypotheses of PD pathogenesis in terms of the volume and substantiality of evidence acquired through controlled technologically advanced studies of the human disease and the experimental models of PD. Despite ample evidence in support of the involvement of oxidative stress in PD pathogenesis, traditional antioxidant-based therapeutic strategies have failed in the clinic. Here we discuss lessons learnt from these failed clinical trials and new promising antioxidant-based neuroprotective strategies for therapeutic approaches that may usher hope to win the battle against this debilitating disease.