By Ahmed Draoui, Omar El Hiba, Arumugam R Jayakumar

"Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder which constitutes a heavy burden on public health worldwide. PD is considered as the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in the world after Alzheimer's disease. Since the early clinical observations of James Parkinson, who described for the first time in 1817, the state of six patients presenting the symptoms of the disease which will bear his name thereafter by Jean-Martin Charcot five decades later, our knowledge had consistently progressed over the last two centuries. Thanks to the pioneer works of Arvid Carlson in middle of the 20th century, our understanding of the neuropathology pf PD had hugely developed by the discovery of the role of dopamine as the mean neurochemical agent involved in the disease onset and progress. The elaboration of L-Dopa as the first pharmacological treatment approach has brought new hopes for curing or at least slowing the neurodegenerative progress and the decline of the motor ant cognitive functions in PD patients. To date, the imaging techniques along with genetic and biochemical tools have allowed scientist as well as clinicians to predict and to diagnose the disease several years prior the motor disorders appearance in PD patients. The current book will shed light on the history of PD over the last 20th together with updated literature overview of the epidemiological data worldwide including the prevalence of the disease, the morbimortality rates, taking into consideration the sex dimorphism and agingcomponents. We will try through the present book to address the current neuropathological evidence of PD including the latest discoveries in terms of neuropathology and treatments available or under clinical trials with the efficacy and limitations of each. The book will also summarize the latest evidence in the importance of the experimental genetic and non-genetic in vivo and in vitro modelization of PD with a critical overview of similarities to the human PD neuropathology through several chapters written by different specialists including basic scientists and clinicians with relevance to the field of neuropathology of PD"