Researchers at University College Cork (UCC) have discovered the beneficial effects of a new drug in the long-term prevention of Parkinson's disease, writes Michelle McDonagh.
Lecturer and principal investigator at the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience at UCC, Dr Yvonne Nolan, explained that Parkinson's disease is an age-related disease that affects the mid-brain and leads to dysfunction in movement.
"In Parkinson's disease patients, dopamine-producing neurons die in a region of the brain known as the mid-brain. In a normal situation, these neurons are involved in the control of muscle movement. When they die in Parkinson's disease, they result in movement dysfunction or disorder," she said.
Dr Nolan said there was a lot of research taking place into how to protect dopamine-producing neurons from death.
She is collaborating in her work with Dr Aideen Sullivan, also of the Department of Anatomy at UCC, on projects investigating a variety of approaches in protecting these neurons.
Dr Sullivan's interest is in promoting the survival of existing dopamine neurons and also in replacing lost ones. Dr Nolan's interest is in looking at anti-inflammatory strategies to protect dopamine neurons.
"The inflammatory cells in the brain are called microglia. We and other researchers have shown that the activation of these cells contributes to dopamine neuron deaths that also occurs in Parkinson's disease," explained Dr Nolan.
The UCC team recently published a paper on their most recent anti-inflammatory research in the European Journal of Neuroscience.
Dr Nolan said: "We examined the effect of an anti-inflammatory drug or compound, which is produced by Vasogen, a Canadian biotech company. We have shown that this drug provides long-term protection of dopamine neurons in a model of Parkinson's disease."
The researchers are optimistic that this pre-clinical data will be translated into clinical trials on patients in the long term.
"There is no cure for Parkinson's disease patients at the moment. There is a lot of pre-clinical work going on. We are very excited about the long-term effects of this drug.
"Often drugs are researched that might provide protection in the short-term, but not long term," Dr Nolan commented.