Lindsey Shapiro, PhD, science writer —

Changes in the electrical activity of a brain region called the left inferior frontal cortex (LIFC) may underlie certain speech difficulties in people with Parkinson’s disease, a study found. Patients with more severe articulation problems had higher frequency activity in the LIFC, and more limited communication between the LIFC…

A molecule associated with oxidative stress, called allantoin, is found at higher levels in the blood of people with Parkinson’s disease relative to their peers without the neurodegenerative disorder, according to a new study. Allantoin and its ratio to uric acid (UA) — the antioxidant molecule from which it’s…

Black, Hispanic, and Asian people with Parkinson’s disease report lower health-related quality of life (HRQoL) than their white counterparts, a recent study showed. Differences in cognitive performance were found to partly underlie these disparities. The study, “Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health-Related Quality of Life for Individuals with…

A higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and low lymphocyte counts in the bloodstream, thought to reflect greater systemic inflammation, were associated with fewer dopamine-producing nerve cells in the brains of Parkinson’s disease patients, a study showed. These immune alterations were also generally linked to worse motor function across both groups. The…

The greater the loss of dopamine transporter (DAT) protein in a brain region significantly affected by Parkinson’s disease — the striatum — the more severe are patients’ motor and nonmotor symptoms over time, particularly for men, a study reported. DAT levels were assessed with DAT imaging, a scanning technique…

Dipraglurant, an investigational oral therapy from Addex Therapeutics, eased motor and nonmotor symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease in rodent models, a study showed. Along with being rapidly absorbed in the bloodstream, dipraglurant demonstrated anti-parkinsonian effects and reduced behaviors associated with anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder in mice and…

Wren Therapeutics has developed oral small molecules that suppress the production of toxic alpha-synuclein protein forms in cellular and mouse models used to study Parkinson’s disease. The potential first-in-class molecules were designed with Wren’s technology platform to hinder processes involved in the generation of alpha-synuclein oligomers, the…

Women who undergo surgery to remove both of their ovaries before age 43 have a five times higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease in the future, according to a U.S. study. For younger women who had the procedure, called a bilateral oophorectomy, use of estrogen replacement therapy until the…

While dopamine-replacing therapies are a key component of Parkinson’s disease care, they only reflect a person’s physical characteristics or the state of their disease. Adding a dose of “hopamine” — a person’s own unique set of hopes, desires, experiences, and skills — to Parkinson’s care takes patients’ personal characteristics…

BlueRock Therapeutics will use digital health technologies from Rune Labs and Emerald Innovations to remotely monitor a subset of Parkinson’s disease patients in an observational clinical study. The goal of the two-year study (NCT05363046) is to shed light on patients’ daily experiences with the neurodegenerative disease via…