Genetic modification of the association of paraquat and Parkinson's disease.

Paraquat is one of the most widely used herbicides worldwide. It produces a Parkinson's disease (PD) model in rodents through redox cycling and oxidative stress (OS) and is associated with PD risk in humans. Glutathione transferases provide cellular protection against OS and could potentially modulate paraquat toxicity.

Solvent exposures and Parkinson disease risk in twins.

Objective: Several case reports have linked solvent exposure to Parkinson disease (PD), but few studies have assessed associations with specific agents using an analytic epidemiologic design. We tested the hypothesis that exposure to specific solvents is associated with PD risk using a discordant twin pair design.

Methods: Ninety-nine twin pairs discordant for PD ascertained from the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council World War II Veteran Twins Cohort were interviewed regarding lifetime occupations and hobbies using detailed job task-specific questionnaires.

Rotenone, paraquat, and Parkinson's disease.

Background: Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress are pathophysiologic mechanisms implicated in experimental models and genetic forms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Certain pesticides may affect these mechanisms, but no pesticide has been definitively associated with PD in humans.

Objectives: Our goal was to determine whether pesticides that cause mitochondrial dysfunction or oxidative stress are associated with PD or clinical features of parkinsonism in humans.