Marisa Wexler, MS,  senior science writer—

People with Parkinson’s disease who show early dysfunction in the nerves controlling heartbeat tend to experience faster disease progression, a new study shows. According to researchers, these results support a new approach differentiating “brain-predominant” Parkinson’s from disease with “body-involvement.” “These findings correspond well to the results of…

Ventus Therapeutics and Novo Nordisk have agreed to work together to develop new anti-inflammatory medicines that may be useful in Parkinson’s disease and other disorders, the companies announced. “This is an important collaboration for Ventus that validates our structural biology capabilities to discover and develop highly differentiated…

Parkinson’s patients with a postural abnormality called Pisa syndrome show deficits in their ability to process visual and balance-related information, a new study done using virtual reality suggests. “The visual tilting perception assessed in our study is a visual domain task, and our study revealed that [Pisa syndrome]…

Zonisamide, an epilepsy medication approved in the U.S. for some seizure-causing disorders, may reduce the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, according to a review study of clinical trial data. The findings also suggest the therapy is associated with improvements in daily life activities for Parkinson’s patients, and with reductions…

Treatment with cannabidiol (CBD) prevented nerve cell death, extended survival, and reduced toxic protein clumps in nematode worm models of Parkinson’s disease, a new study reports. “These findings supported CBD as an anti-parkinsonian drug,” the researchers wrote, adding that “this CBD neuroprotective action might be due to its antioxidative…

A new online tool based on artificial intelligence could help reduce possible side effects from anticholinergic medications, a class of therapies often used to control Parkinson’s disease symptoms. “This new tool provides a promising avenue towards a more tailored personalised medicine approach, of ensuring the right person gets a…

Probiotic supplements were found to ease multiple measures of constipation in people with Parkinson’s disease in a small clinical trial. According to researchers, the use of such supplements also “significantly” improved quality of life for patients with constipation problems. “In this study, multi-strain probiotics were used to treat [Parkinson’s]…

The use of antipsychotic medications is substantially more common among people with Parkinson’s disease than in the general population, according to a new study based on national data in Finland. Results show that the increase in antipsychotic use among Parkinson’s patients is evident several years before the disease is…

Rates of blood vessel dysfunction are not significantly different in people with Parkinson’s disease compared to the general population, a small study reports. The findings indicate that, among people with Parkinson’s, smoking and the use of treatments called dopamine agonists are associated with poorer blood vessel function. The…

Alpha-synuclein aggregation — the toxic clumping of proteins in nerve cells that is a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease — starts on the membranes of mitochondria, the so-called powerhouse of a cell, according to work in cell models. “Our study provides insights into what is happening in the earliest stages…