Trichloroethylene and parkinsonism: a human and experimental observation.

This report describes the case of a 47-year-old woman who developed Parkinson's disease after seven years of professional exposure to trichloroethylene. In the light of this clinical report, mice were intoxicated with trichloroethylene and tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity was used to measure neuronal death in the substantia nigra pars compacta. Treated mice presented significant dopaminergic neuronal death in comparison with control mice (50%). The environmental trichlorethylene pollution, as well as other unspecific neurotoxic solvents, could potentially contribute to the genesis of some cases of Parkinson's disease.