Abstract:

In recent years, there has been an increase in the prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases, one of which is Parkinson's disease (PD), characterized by progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta of the brain and leading to patient disability and significant financial costs for their treatment and rehabilitation. In this regard, understanding environmental factors causing this disease, developing adequate experimental models for studying pathogenesis and searching for strategies to prevent its development, as well as possible neuroprotective drugs, has fundamental scientific significance. Although some researchers believe that the main factors in PD development are genetic mutations and population aging, numerous studies prove that PD can be caused by exposure to a number of toxic substances entering the organism from the environment. This review will examine the main exogenous neurotoxins causing PD development and consequently used for modeling this disease in animals and cell cultures, as well as their mechanisms of action, advantages and disadvantages of specific models.