THURSDAY, July 5, 2007 (HealthDay News) -- Disruption of a key cellular enzyme may be a root cause of Parkinson's disease, a new study finds.
Parkinson's disease occurs when neurons that produce dopamine die. Dopamine is a neurochemical that allows the body to move with smooth coordination. When 80 percent of the neurons that produce dopamine die off, the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease appear.
Now, a Canadian team has found evidence that neuronal death occurs when a cellular enzyme called Prx2 is injured. The enzyme plays a key role in eliminating the potentially damaging products of mitochondria, the cells' power plants. Without the enzyme, these products build up and threaten the cell.
Reporting in the July issue of Neuron, researchers at the Ottawa Health Research Institute, in Ontario, studied mice in which a mitochondria-affecting toxin is used to create a condition similar to Parkinson's disease.
They found a chain of events in which the toxin turns on a cellular switch, which then turns off Prx2. They also found that they could reverse this chain of events by turning Prx2 back on in the toxin-treated mice -- preventing the loss of dopamine-making neurons.
The team also noted lower-than-normal Prx2 activity in the brain tissue of humans with Parkinson's disease.
The researchers theorize that managing Prx2 activity may be a viable approach to the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
More information
To learn about Parkinson's disease and find support for people with Parkinson's disease, visit the National Parkinson Foundation.
