BOSTON: Research at the University of Otago indicates remarkable success with a new approach to treating Parkinson’s disease that holds out new hope for dramatically improved movement and quality of life for sufferers.
Parkinson’s disease causes the progressive degeneration of the dopamine-producing cells in the brain leading tosymptoms that include tremors, stiffness and rigidity, and slowness of movement. The disease cannot be cured and the best treatments so far include drugs and ‘deep brain’ stimulation.
Now however, using ‘optogenetics’ – a method of treatment that stimulates the brain by shining blue light onto the affected area – scientists, working with animal models, are showing much improved ability to recover movements…