Parkinson’s Disease

By Author: Dr. Victor Marchione
Total Articles: 90
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Parkinson’s is a disease that affects the nervous system. No one has yet found out exactly what causes the onset of Parkinson’s disease. There are an estimated one million or more people with Parkinson’s disease in the U.S. The numbers for Parkinson’s disease are far higher than those for multiple sclerosis are. The disease is usually age-specific — meaning that it tends to affect those over the age of 60.
Parkinson’s is characterized by four distinct symptoms: stiffness of the arms, legs or neck; tremors in the hands; slowness of movement; and loss of balance. Other less common symptoms include depression, confusion, speech difficulty, difficulty swallowing, dizziness and constipation.
The symptoms of Parkinson’s appear when there is a lack of “dopamine” in the brain. Dopamine is a “neurotransmitter.” It has the job of carrying messages from one nerve cell to another. The brain loses its ability to manufacture dopamine, as well as two other neurotransmitters called “noradrenaline” and “serotonin.”
Researchers have been trying to hone in on what might cause the loss of these brain ...
... cells. Some believe that the cells are destroyed by toxins in the body that the liver is unable to filter out. Others suggest that environmental toxins, such as herbicides and pesticides that leach into ground water, are responsible for the onset of the disease.
Patients Can’t Remove Proteins
One interesting study out of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has found a possible reason for the death of cells that leads to Parkinson’s symptoms. According to the researchers, when there is a glitch in the way that cells clear damaged molecules, the symptoms of Parkinson’s can be triggered.
To understand the connection, here’s a primer on how your body normally functions when it comes to renewing damaged cells. Basically, your body is in a constant state of renewal. That means that your cells digest and recycle damaged molecules that happen as your cells grow older. This process helps keep your cells functioning properly.
Discovering this glitch in the removal of protein molecules may at least lead to drugs to treat the symptoms of the disease. The researchers hope to find a drug that’s able to activate the cell-renewal system.
Could Metal Cause Parkinson’s?
In another recent study, Italian researchers have found that exposure to manganese can trigger the symptoms of Parkinson’s. The Italian researchers set out to study the affects of manganese exposure on health. They looked at more than 900,000 residents of the province of Brescia. What they discovered was quite shocking: higher rates of Parkinson’s symptoms in 37 communities. These communities were all near plants that used manganese for steel making.
In these 37 communities, 492 cases of Parkinson’s symptoms per 100,000 residents were found. This was compared to 321 cases per 100,000 in the other 169 communities studied.
“Although our results are not conclusive, they support the hypothesis that exposure to low levels of manganese...can increase the risk of Parkinsonian disorders,” said lead researcher Dr. Lucchini. The research team has concluded that further research is needed. They would like to understand whether some people are genetically more at risk for developing symptoms when exposed to manganese. They would also like to define safe levels of manganese exposure.2
Possible Treatment for Parkinson’s
A study out of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston has made an important discovery about a possible link between “urate” levels and Parkinson’s. According to the study, urate, a salt that’s derived from uric acid, may be associated with a decreased risk of getting the disease. Urate is a powerful antioxidant.
Here’s where researchers made the link. Medical science has known for some time that oxidative stress contributes to the degeneration of neurons in the brain that produce dopamine. Dopamine is the chemical that allows muscles to move properly. And those with Parkinson’s, as was already mentioned, lack sufficient dopamine.

However, only one percent to five percent of L-dopa enters the neurons. The remaining L-dopa is often metabolized to dopamine elsewhere, causing a wide variety of side effects, some of them decidedly unpleasant.
Then there is the problem of an eventual reduction in the formation of L-dopa, which causes it to become ineffective as a treatment. There is a definite possibility that treatment of Parkinson’s with urate may, in the end, prove to be a safer, more effective way to manage the disease than L-dopa is.

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