Chair: Briana DeMiranda, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Co-Chair: Alison Bernstein, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Primary Endorser: Neurotoxicology Specialty Section

Parkinson’s disease is the fastest growing age-related neurological disease, and cases are predicted to more than double globally by 2040. These increases in prevalence outpace the effects of aging and increased longevity alone, with the most rapid increases occurring in newly industrialized areas, suggesting that environmental exposures are key risk factors. In fact, only a small minority of Parkinson’s cases can be linked to single genetic mutations, leaving the etiology of the large majority of cases as due to a complex combination of genetic and environmental risk factors (e.g., pollutants, pathogens, lifestyle, and diet). However, there is still much that is not understood about how these environmental factors contribute to disease pathogenesis. Increased understanding of the link between environmental exposures and the development of Parkinson’s disease will be critical to the long-term reduction in the global burden of the disease through preventative measures and disease-modifying therapies. One of the key factors limiting mechanistic insight is the limited translation between human exposure to Parkinson’s-related toxicants and experimental models of neurodegeneration. This is broadly due to a lack of high-quality, Parkinson’s-relevant exposure data in epidemiological studies and the use of dosing paradigms that do not emulate environmentally relevant, real-world exposures. Additionally, there is little consensus between the toxicology and neuroscience fields regarding how experimental modeling can be properly used to identify disease mechanisms resulting from environmental risk factors. Success in understanding, and potentially modifying, environmental impact on Parkinson’s etiology will require collaboration and funding across disciplines combined with the use of emerging technology (e.g., metabolomics, epigenetics, imaging, genetic tools) and application of basic toxicological principles. This session will bring together speakers from different fields related to Parkinson’s research to discuss these challenges and provide a blueprint for how the field can accelerate discovery in the environmental influence of Parkinson’s disease. Our experts will take a top-down approach and discuss (1) optimized design for epidemiological studies assessing Parkinson’s-related toxicant exposures, (2) using high-resolution metabolomics to understand the exposome of Parkinson’s disease, (3) integrating environmentally relevant exposures in animal models to better emulate real-life, Parkinson’s-related exposures, (4) incorporating a broader range of pathological outcomes to better emulate the long-term and prodromal etiology of Parkinson’s disease, (5) including assessment of exposures across the lifespan and in both biological sexes, and (6) the role of funding agencies in accelerating this approach through collaborative efforts. At the session’s completion, attendees will have a greater understanding of the challenges of measuring and modeling environmentally relevant exposures in Parkinson’s disease models and current work being done to address these challenges..