Research indicates new hope for Parkinsons sufferers

Research indicates new hope for Parkinsons disease sufferers

Research at the University of Otago indicates remarkable success with a new approach to treating Parkinsons disease that holds out new hope for dramatically improved movement and quality of life for sufferers.

Parkinsons disease causes the progressive degeneration of the dopamine-producing cells in the brain leading tosymptoms that include tremors, stiffness and rigidity, and slowness of movement. The disease cannot be cured and the best treatments so far include drugs and deep brain stimulation.

Now however, using optogenetics - a method of treatment that stimulates the brain by shining blue light onto the affected area - scientists, working with animal models, are showing much improved ability to recover movements.

Otago School of Medical Sciences neuroscientist, Dr Louise Parr-Brownlie, whose research has just been published in the Journal of Neuroscience, explains that the results indicate better outcomes than treatments commonly used to address symptoms caused by Parkinsons disease.

The results so far achieved offer a new treatment site for deep brain stimulation that may be more effective in addressing symptoms in Parkinsons disease patients, says Dr Parr-Brownlie.

If our trials are successful this will represent the first big breakthrough in the treatment of Parkinsons disease which is a very difficult condition to manage and one that is affecting a growing number of New Zealanders.

Some 10 thousand people (in New Zealand) have Parkinsons disease, 80 percent of whom are Baby Boomers in the 60 plus age group. While age is the biggest risk factor, there is a small group of sufferers in the 20 to 50 category.

Although the cause of Parkinsons disease remains unknown, other risk factors include exposure to pesticides, insecticides, welding fumes and well water. Genetics also plays a relatively small role.

Dr Parr-Brownlie says the more focused optogentics approach activates one part of the brain that controls movement called the motor thalamus. Parkinsons disease causes a loss of dopamine which impairs the motor thalamus which in turn affects the motor cortex leading to a loss of the ability to initiate muscle movement, or akinesia.

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Research indicates new hope for Parkinsons sufferers