Early Detection Of Parkinson?S Disease A Step Closer

Early Detection Of Parkinson?S Disease A Step Closer

The battle to tackle chronic and progressive Parkinson’s disease (PD) has been boosted with encouraging news of pioneering research work which could help diagnose the condition at a much earlier stage.

At present when a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson’s is made, based on observation of symptoms such as muscle rigidity, tremor in the hands, feet and jaw, and worsening balance and posture, serious damage has already been done in the nerve cells of the brain.

At this stage the loss of the key neurotransmitter chemical dopamine, which carries electrical signals in the brain, leads to a significant change in the delicate brain chemical balance with acetylcholine.

Major nerve cell death in the substantia nigra region will have already occurred, with loss of over 80 per cent of the dopamine-producing neurones.

Leading edge research by a team of scientists at Keele University in England, collaborating with colleagues at the University of Florida, uses data collected from a Diamond Light Source synchrotron at Harwell, Oxfordshire.

Using this Diamond Light Source particle accelerator the research team focuses light, which has the intensity equivalent to a million watt bulb, into a beam as small as the width of a single cell.

With this technique the scientists are able to show up key changes in individual neurons in brain cells which produce dopamine before PD destroys them.

This is done by effectively mapping the position and form of metal ions, mainly iron, in the key regions of the brain where Parkinson’s develops.

This now opens up the real possibility of earlier intervention in this neurodegenerative disease by applying this technique to scanning technologies such as MRI.

With such a diagnosis of early onset PD clinicians would be able to use the latest drug therapies which could help slow down the irreversible process of cell destruction, which then results in the common clinical symptoms.

When you consider that there are over 4 million people worldwide who suffer from this progressive, chronic condition, the potential impact of this work is highly significant.

Data show that Parkinson’s affects around 1% of people over 60, with the onset of first symptoms occurring around this age.

Medical practitioners then have to use the range of interventions to maintain the best quality of life for their patients.

This potential revolutionary diagnostic technique would mean clinicians have an advanced warning of Parkinson’s disease and the ability to choose from a combination of drug intervention, physiotherapy and deep brain stimulation techniques at an earlier stage, and so make them more effective.