Abstract for: Modeling the Dynamic Biological Mechanisms and Interactions Underlying Parkinson’s Disease

Neurodegenerative diseases (ND) are characterized by the progressive loss of neurons. WHO emphasizes that ND will become an unmanageable threat to human health because the number of people suffering from these diseases is amplifying as the aging population increases. Parkinson’s disease (PD), the second most common ND, affects more than 10 million people worldwide. Many biological mechanisms are hypothesized as key variables in explaining the pathogenesis of PD. The main factors, misfolded protein accumulation, protein degradation, mitochondrial functionality, oxidative stress, iron accumulation, and neuroinflammation, create vicious cycles due to the feedback-intensive nature of the system with substantial delays and non-linear interactions. Having a well-fitting model to the numeric and qualitative information about the human brain would allow us to experiment with different external factors, such as continuous concussion, on the progress of PD. As the method of modeling such a complex and interconnected system, SD will be used to capture well the systemic nature of interest. A literature-based approach is applied to construct a causal loop diagram, and a stock-flow diagram is in progress for expanding the study with simulations, testing, and scenario analysis. The motivation of the study is to encourage SD studies in ND to offer more insights.