Helping Parkinson's Patients Walk

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Researchers are one step closer to understanding why Parkinson's disease patients have trouble walking. They have found those that struggle with gait problems have a deficit of nerve cells that produce a specific chemical in the brain.

Doctors typically treat the symptoms of Parkinson's with drugs that target dopamine. However, these medications do not improve gait problems, which commonly affect patients with advanced forms of the disease.

Investigators in Paris studied patients with Parkinson's disease and aged monkeys with "Parkinson's-like" disease. They determined that the presence of gait disorders was associated with a loss of nerve cells that produce the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in a particular region of the brain. They also found disrupting these nerve cells promoted gait and postural problems in monkeys.

Authors of the study suggest targeting acetylcholine-producing nerve cells in the brain might provide a way to improve gait disorders and decrease the risk of falls in patients with the disease.

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SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Investigation, July 12, 2010