Parkinson’s Disease is a chronic progressive movement disorder that worsens with time. Currently there is no cure for the over one million diagnosed Americans.
The UA portion of the study, led by Dr. Guy Caldwell, focused on phosphatidylethanolamine, a lipid known as PE.
PE is thought to be linked to Parkinson’s because of its role in folding proteins. Low levels of PE result in misfolded proteins and, consequently, cell death of neurons important in motor functions.
“This gets right to the heart of understanding, possibly, the mechanism by which one form of lipid is impacting the process of neuron degeneration,” Caldwell said.
The study was started by researchers at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and went on to focus on a second lipid ethanolamine, or ETA, which can potentially boost levels of PE.
George Andrews, a UA law school alumnus and attorney in Birmingham, has been suffering from Parkinson’s for the past eight years. He is involved with Parkinson’s groups in Birmingham and is impressed with the progress that has been made over the past decade.
“My mother had Parkinson’s,” Andrews said. “And she died in 2002 at the age of 91. Thanks to the work that researchers across Alabama have been doing, I am able to take medications that didn’t exist for her. That’s real progress.”
Currently, however, treatment options for the disease are relatively limited, consisting largely of medications that help ease common symptoms like tremors and speech issues.
Caldwell also said the findings could lead to new supplements that could help preserve PE levels and possibly even reverse certain effects of the disease. He said these supplements would be useful in alleviating the toxicity of current treatment options.
Andrews helps work to increase awareness for Parkinson’s Disease and to explain its effects to those unfamiliar with the problem.
“Parkinson’s is a cruel disease,” Andrews said. “I like to cite Parkinson’s most famous patient, Michael J. Fox, when he explains this disease’s effects on the body – Parkinson’s hinders the production of dopamine. Dopamine is to the human neuromuscular system what motor oil is to an automobile. That’s why we need progress.”
The study was funded in part by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes.
