September 27, 2001
Antidepressants May Help Fight Parkinson's Disease
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In preliminary findings that could give new
hope to patients with Parkinson's disease, researchers have discovered
that some antidepressants may block the release of a key brain chemical
that can damage nerves and contribute to the declines in brain and motor
coordination characteristic of the disorder.
Parkinson's disease is a progressive and irreversible disorder that
occurs when brain cells that produce the chemical dopamine begin to die.
It can also occur when the proteins that transport dopamine between
nerves in a certain region of the brain malfunction, allowing the
chemical to spill into gaps between neurons, where it damages the
nerves.
In the current study, Dr. Isabelle M. Mintz and colleagues from Boston
University in Massachusetts looked at dendrites--the branch-like
extensions that nerve cells use to communicate with other neurons--in
the substantia nigra, an area of the brain associated with Parkinson's
disease, in rats.
According to their report in the September 28th issue of Science,
certain stimuli caused the dopamine-carrying proteins in dendrites to
malfunction. Rather than picking up dopamine, these proteins leaked the
chemical into the space between neurons, causing damage to the nerves,
the investigators found.
But a compound that inhibits the proteins that transport dopamine
prevented the spillage, the authors note, indicating that similar
compounds, such as some antidepressants, might have the same effect in
the early stages of Parkinson's disease.
``This suggests that some widely used antidepressants that inhibit the
dopamine transporter may benefit patients in the early stages of
Parkinson's disease,'' Mintz and colleagues conclude.
SOURCE: Science 2001;293:2465-2470.
Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited.
Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! Inc.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
[log in to unmask]
EASE THE BURDEN
FIND A CURE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn
