20th century Of Parkinson's disease

The first speculations concerning the anatomical substrate of PD were made 80 years after Parkinson's essay, when Édouard Brissaud proposed that it had its origin in the subthalamus or cerebral peduncle and might be caused by an ischemic lesion. In 1912 Frederic Lewy described a pathologic finding in affected brains, later named "Lewy bodies". In 1919 Konstantin Tretiakoff reported that the substantia nigra was the main cerebral structure affected, but this finding was not widely accepted until it was confirmed by further studies published by Rolf Hassler in 1938. The underlying biochemical changes in the brain were identified in the 1950s, due largely to the work of Arvid Carlsson on the neurotransmitter dopamine and its role on PD. Carlsson was eventually awarded a Nobel Prize for this work. Synuclein proteins being the main component of Lewy bodies was discovered in 1997.