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Researchers found that
cognitive and motor functions are compromised in patients with Parkinson’s
disease causing neural-firing abnormalities.Photo courtesy of Nicolas Henri
Jacob
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Nearly one million people
living in the U.S. suffer from Parkinson’s disease (PD), a chronic disorder of
the central nervous system that affects movement. PD can be treated by various
means, none of which can reverse the effects of the disease.
Researchers at Emory
University in Atlanta, for the first time, systematically recorded neural
activity in the striatum, the part of the brain that deals with cognitive and
motor functions. The study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, revealed that these two functions are compromised in PD
patients causing neuron-firing abnormalities.
Researchers compared the
striatal recordings of people with PD and the striatal recordings of patients
diagnosed with other neurological disorders with corresponding findings in
primates.
“We found profound changes
in the activity of striatal projection neurons in patients with PD, which
highlighted the striatal role in circuit dysfunction,” lead researcher for the
study Stella Papa said in a statement. The current basal ganglia circuit
models of PD are based on presumptive changes in the outputs of the
dopamine-depleted striatum which were never found in human studies, she said.
“The data we are providing
in this new study have long been due and weigh significantly in the
interpretation of striatal mechanisms in basal ganglia circuits and their
contribution to the pathophysiology of PD,” Papa added.
Researchers are now
investigating the physiological and molecular mechanisms that take part in the
abnormal neuron-firing. Understanding this, the researchers said, will help in
developing target-specific treatments to help people who have PD.
http://healthdetails.site/parkinsons-patients-show-neural-firing-abnormalities-in-striatum-recordings-study-reveals/
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