Psience Quest

Quote:There are no cures for Parkinson's disease, but symptoms are treated with drugs that restore a brain chemical called dopamine to normal levels. Dopamine has long been considered a prime culprit in Parkinson's disease as low levels cause problems with movement. But another brain chemical called serotonin has also been implicated in the disease.

But we didn't know how early and to what extent changes in serotonin occur and if these changes are related to disease onset. To help answer this, we needed to study those Greek and Italian subjects with the SNCA gene mutation.

Studying these gene carriers before they develop Parkinson's disease is a unique opportunity to understand what comes first in the cascade of events that eventually leads to a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. This knowledge is critical so that we can develop sensitive markers to track the progression of the disease.