Margarida Maia, PhD, science writer —

The formation of toxic alpha-synuclein clumps may be the first and critical driver in developing Parkinson’s disease associated with mutations in the SNCA gene, according to a study looking at patient-derived neurons. While alpha-synuclein aggregation and abnormal calcium flow were detected at the earliest maturation stages of the specific…

Long-term exposure to air pollutants such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitric dioxide, and black carbon increases the risk of dying from Parkinson’s disease, according to a study of more than 200,000 adults from six European countries. Notably, these associations were observed even for pollutant levels below current…

Using amantadine — a parkinsonian medication that has also antiviral activity — does not reduce the occurrence of COVID-19 or its severity among people with Parkinson’s disease, a Polish study found. Rather, the researchers observed that COVID-19 was less common among people over age 50 age, and those with…

Levels of alpha-synuclein, beta-amyloid, and neurofilament light chain (NfL) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that surrounds the brain and the spinal cord can help identify Parkinson’s disease and distinguish it from atypical parkinsonism, according to a review study. The study, “A meta-analysis of the diagnostic…

People with early-stage Parkinson’s disease may be about 70% less likely to catch the common cold than those with other common brain diseases, a Japanese study suggests. The study, “Are patients with Parkinson’s disease at a lower risk of catching the common cold? Propensity score matching,” was published…

Krill oil, which comes from a shrimp-like animal, protected dopamine-producing neurons from age-related degeneration and boosted neurologic processes dependent on the brain chemical messenger in a worm model of Parkinson’s disease, a study showed. The production of dopamine is gradually impaired in people with Parkinson’s due to the progressive…

A gene therapy designed to track down and keep overactive brain cells in check was able to lower the number of seizures in a mouse study of epilepsy. This therapy is also notable in sparing healthy brain tissue by switching itself off after its work is done. Should early work…

Add-on treatment with a low dose of zonisamide, an anti-seizure medication, failed to significantly ease tremor in a pilot study of people with a tremor-dominant form of Parkinson’s disease. However, when researchers preformed their analysis and included all people —  even those who dropped out of the study…

A request to launch a first Phase 1/2 clinical trial of a stem cell-based therapy in people with Parkinson’s disease has been approved by the Swedish Medical Products Agency. The therapy, called STEM-PD, consists of stem cell-derived dopamine-producing, or dopaminergic, neurons that are expected to replace the dopaminergic neurons that are…

Using simulated images, researchers have developed a method that may allow them to quantify how much dopamine transporter — a protein that pumps the chemical messenger dopamine into cells — there is in brain regions linked to Parkinson’s disease. The method can glean information from a single-photon emission…