News

A compound called emapunil prevented the characteristic loss of nerve cells associated with Parkinson’s disease, lowered levels of dopamine, brain inflammation, and motor deficits in a mouse model of the disease. Researchers suggest that treatment with emapunil, already proven safe in humans as a therapy for anxiety disorders, may…

Infusion of a naturally occurring protein, GDNF, into a motor control area of the brain may restore cells damaged by Parkinson’s disease and ease patients’ symptoms, results from a European clinical trial suggest. The study, “Extended Treatment with Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Parkinson’s Disease” was published…

Parkinson’s patients treated with deep brain stimulation (DBS) are not more impulsive than other patients or healthy people toward food or monetary rewards, according to new research. The study, “Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus and the temporal discounting of primary and secondary rewards,” was…

The loss of dopamine causes neurons in the striatum — a brain region involved in voluntary movement control — to change their activity, explaining some of Parkinson’s hallmark symptoms. Instead of firing in sequence, some of these neurons are overactive and fire simultaneously, making the mice have a repetitive rotation…

Parkinson’s disease patients living in rural areas in Iowa show improved respiratory function with group therapeutic singing delivered via telemedicine, according to a pilot study. The study, “The Feasibility of Group Therapeutic Singing Telehealth for Persons with Parkinson’s Disease in Rural Iowa,” was published in the journal…

The metabolism of certain types of fats, namely palmitic acid and stearic acid commonly found in animal and vegetable fats and oils, may be altered in Parkinson’s disease, according to a study in rats. The study, “Palmitate and Stearate are Increased in the Plasma in a 6-OHDA Model of Parkinson’s…

Wives who take care of husbands with Parkinson’s disease have greater impairments in their stability while standing than housewives or more active women of the same age, a study shows. The research, “Postural stability in Parkinson’s disease patients’ wives and in elderly women leading different lifestyles,”…

AbbVie and Voyager Therapeutics have extended their collaboration to co-develop and commercialize antibodies that target the toxic forms of alpha-synuclein to treat Parkinson’s disease and other synucleinopathies. The collaboration will combine AbbVie’s expertise in monoclonal antibodies with Voyager’s gene therapy platform to deliver antibodies across the blood-brain barrier…

Some 10 percent of Parkinson’s patients carry a mutation in the GBA gene, making it the most common genetic risk for this disease. With a goal of learning more about these mutations, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) and the Silverstein Foundation for Parkinson’s with…

A tool called Vercise Cartesia Directional Lead is intended to provide more precise deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatment for people with Parkinson’s disease. Researchers at UHealth — University of Miami Health System recently became the first in the Eastern U.S. and the second in the country to…