News

Inserting a piece of nerve tissue from a patient’s ankle into the brain during deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery appears a safe and feasible way to support damaged dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson’s disease, with the goal of slowing symptom progression. That’s according to results from a Phase 1…

Men with Parkinson’s disease mount stronger and more frequent immune responses than do women against PINK1, a protein that protects nerve cells from death, a new U.S. study found. These findings offer new clues for how the immune system shapes the course of disease in men and women, the…

Six months of treatment with intranasal FGF-1, a naturally occurring molecule that promotes blood vessel growth, improved blood flow in a brain region profoundly affected by Parkinson’s disease, along with motor function, in the first patient to undergo both assessments. That’s according to a press release by…

Sexual health among women with Parkinson’s disease is associated with sleep quality and the quality of the relationships they have with their partners, a study in Brazil found. The study analyzed the short- and long-term sexual health of 100 women with mild to moderate disease who were sexually active…

Thirteen blood biomarkers, including three never previously linked to Parkinson’s disease, may help in diagnosing people sooner and scientists in better understanding the condition, according to a study based on data from nearly 400,000 people. “We identified several blood biomarkers that may be associated with the risk of developing…

Treatment with psilocybin — the hallucinogenic agent in magic mushrooms — may help to prevent damage to the brain following mild head injuries, according to a new study done in rats. Head injuries are an established risk factor for Parkinson’s disease, as well as Alzheimer’s and other…

People with dementia related to Parkinson’s disease are at increased risk of death after undergoing surgery to address broken hips, a new study reports. Data suggest this increased risk is higher in people with Parkinson’s-related dementia than other types of dementia. “Our analysis of dementia subtypes reveals that not…

A compound formed by nerve cells as they break down cholesterol appears to be involved in the formation of toxic alpha-synuclein protein clumps in the brain — clumps, or aggregates, that are tied to Parkinson’s disease — making this byproduct a potential therapeutic target, a new study in patients…

Male and female mice show different responses to toxic alpha-synuclein clumps, a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease, with males experiencing faster and more aggressive neurodegeneration and females showing earlier brain damage before motor symptoms appear, a study has found. Understanding these sex differences could help develop better, more personalized…

Estrogen, a female sex hormone, was found to enhance the neuroprotective effects of cytisine, a smoking cessation drug, in a female mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. That’s according to a study conducted by researchers at Texas A&M University, which analyzed the effects of cytisine in female mice that had…