BOSTON: Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have gleaned new insights into the cellular biochemistry that underpins Parkinson’s disease. The team hopes that these new clues will help design effective drugs in the future.
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a degenerative condition that affects the dopamine-producing cells in the human brain.
The condition steadily worsens over time until the individual can no longer care for themselves.
Currently, there is no cure for PD, but some symptoms can be relieved by drugs, including levodopa and carbidopa.
Because the exact processes by which PD affect the brain are not fully understood, designing effective treatment is challenging.
One marker that is always present in PD are Lewy bodies. These so-called fibrillar aggregates are a hallmark of neuronal degeneration. Lewy bodies consist of a tangle of proteins that steadily builds up within neurons, slowly preventing them from functioning correctly.
Lewy bodies are made up of a variety of proteins, but the primary constituent is alpha-synuclein. This protein is present in the healthy brain and appears to play a role in transmitting neurotransmitters (chemical messages) between neurons, particularly dopamine…