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Researchers at the University of Florida have developed a non-invasive way of following disease progression in Parkinson’s, and its related conditions, that uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The method is expected to soon be used in a clinical trial, and appears to be a way of evaluating the efficacy of experimental treatments to slow…

Changes in the retina of the eye may reveal the presence of Parkinson’s disease before brain changes and early symptoms appear, researchers at University College London’s Institute of Ophthalmology report. Their discovery may lead to a non-invasive and low-cost eye test to detect Parkinson’s well in advance of the tremors and muscle stiffness that characterize…

Scientists have recorded the activity of nerve cells in the brains of human patients with Parkinson’s disease in what is believed to be the first time, focusing on the brain region where neuronal loss leads to movement and cognitive symptoms typical of the condition — the striatum. The study,…

Using a laboratory model of Parkinson’s disease, researchers have shown how abnormal α-synuclein aggregates gradually spread from an area involved in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD) to other regions of the brain that are eventually damaged by the disease. The study, “Widespread transneuronal propagation of α-synucleinopathy…

Most scientists who study brain conditions such as Parkinson’s naturally focus on the brain, but new research from the Van Andel Research Institute in Michigan shows that the obvious starting point is not the only way to go. In the study “Enrichment of risk SNPs in regulatory regions implicate…

Researchers at two Scottish institutions have identified a new player in the crucial task of removing protein aggregates from the brain — an otherwise flawed process in Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. The new insights into the molecular processes that contribute to protein aggregates that might some day be therapeutically targeted…

In a discovery that might turn out to be a game changer in Parkinson’s research, University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers discovered that DNA methylation causes L-DOPA to stop being effective after a few years, instead giving rise to dyskinesia — involuntary jerky movements making life even harder for patients. In…

Researchers have developed a laboratory assay that measures the activity of the mutated LRRK2 gene — the major genetic cause of Parkinson’s disease. The team behind the study “Phos-tag analysis of Rab10 phosphorylation by LRRK2: a powerful assay for assessing kinase function and inhibitors,” published in the Biochemical Journal, believe…

TRANSEURO, a research consortium funded by the European Union, is readying an old weapon for a new round in the struggle to find a long-term treatment for Parkinson’s disease —  transplanted fetal stem cells producing dopamine, a technology researchers attempted 30 years ago. Today, improved methods and a focus on younger patients make TRANSEURO…

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham report that the most common genetic cause of Parkinson’s disease, a mutant form of the LRRK2 enzyme, contributes to the build-up of α-synuclein in neurons — a telltale sign that the nerve cells are destined to die. Published last week in…