Regular high caffeine consumption affects dopamine function in patients with Parkinson's disease, shows a new international study. Caffeine consumption before undergoing diagnostic brain dopamine imaging may also affect the imaging results.
Researchers have found a way to better control the preclinical generation of key neurons depleted in Parkinson's disease, pointing toward a new approach for a disease with no cure and few effective treatments.
Although there are still some aspects pending confirmation for its use in the clinical setting, and its resolution needs to be improved slightly, a study has shown that a method routinely used to carry out ophthalmological tests can also be used to monitor the neurodegeneration that occurs in Parkinson's patients. In the course of the research it was found that the neurodegeneration of the retina probably precedes cognitive impairment.
Researchers have used artificial intelligence techniques to massively accelerate the search for Parkinson's disease treatments. The researchers designed and used an AI-based strategy to identify compounds that block the clumping, or aggregation, of alpha-synuclein, the protein that characterises Parkinson's.
