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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : September 18, 2014 6:49 PM IST
Scientists have gained new information on what causes the Parkinson's disease. Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter which affects physical and psychological functions such as motor control, learning and memory. Levels of this substance are regulated by special dopamine cells. When the level of dopamine drops, nerve cells that constitute part of the brain's 'stop signal' are activated.
Jakob Kisbye Dreyer from University of Copenhagen explained that presence of dopamine was crucial in the system to block the stop signal. Parkinson's disease arises because for some reason the dopamine cells in the brain are lost, and it is known that the stop signal is being over-activated somehow or other. However, they could now use advanced computer simulations to challenge the existing paradigm and put forward a different theory about what actually took place in the brain when the dopamine cells gradually died. Scanning the brain of a patient suffering from the disease revealed that in spite of dopamine cell death, there were no signs of a lack of dopamine, even at a comparatively late stage in the process.
The researchers said that as per their calculations, cell death only affected the level of dopamine very late in the process, but that symptoms could arise long before the level of the neurotransmitter started to decline. The reason for this was that the fluctuations that normally made up a signal became weaker. In the computer model, the brain compensated for the shortage of signals by creating additional dopamine receptors. This had a positive effect initially, but as cell death progressed further, the correct signal might almost disappear. At this stage, the compensation becomes so overwhelming that even small variations in the level of dopamine trigger the stop signal, which could therefore cause the patient to develop the disease.
The findings have been published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
What is Parkinson's disease?
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder and affects nerve cells which are responsible for motor functions of the body. Parkinson's patients have difficulty in carrying out movements at a normal speed. Hence, they take longer to perform even normal day-to-day activities. Apart from slowness in their body, Parkinson's patients' limbs tend to be either stiff or shake uncontrollably. Other non-motor symptoms like pain, sleep disturbances, irregular bowel movements, fainting spells, depression, anxiety, fatigue and memory problems also occur. There is no cure for the disease but medications and surgery can provide some relief.
What causes Parkinson's disease?
People with Parkinson's disease suffer loss of nerve cells in the brain that are responsible for releasing a brain chemical or neurotransmitter called dopamine. Dopamine is a signalling chemical required for coordination and control of body movements. Once the neurons start dying, the production of dopamine is reduced causing loss of movement control and coordination in people suffering from the condition. But what exactly triggers death of those neurons is still a mystery. Scientists have found out several genes that were responsible for causing the disease in some cases.Read more about Parkinson's disease Causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment
With inputs from ANI
Photo source: Getty images
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