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New imaging technology may help diagnose neurological conditions

Targeted ocular spectroscopy, a technology that allows real-time imaging of the back of the eye (or eye fundus) while observing how light interacts with specific structures in the retina, can help diagnose several eye and neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, according to a recent study. The retina is the…

New technique may aid Parkinson’s cell therapies’ efficiency

Scientists have developed a more efficient method for using stem cells to create new dopaminergic neurons, the dopamine-making nerve cells whose death and dysfunction causes Parkinson’s disease. The technique was detailed in Nature Communications, in the study, “Enhanced production of mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons from lineage-restricted human…

Organoid model can replicate neural network of human ‘reward system’

Researchers have developed a three-dimensional brain organoid — a “mini-organ” model of the brain — that replicates a human neural network known as the “dopaminergic reward pathway” in structure and function. Despite the importance of the neurotransmitter dopamine in Parkinson’s disease, key mechanisms of this brain system are not…