New discovery may lead to effective and natural treatment for Parkinson's disease

[Judi Lynn]

NEWS RELEASE 4-JUN-2020

Certain hormone-like compounds boost dopamine levels in the brain

MCLEAN HOSPITAL

Investigators have identified two molecules naturally produced by the body that stimulate the production of dopamine, the molecule that is in short supply in the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease. Stimulating dopamine production may help reverse the progression of the disease. The research was led by scientists at McLean Hospital in collaboration with scientists at Nanyang Technical University, Singapore, and published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

The team designed the study based on the knowledge that a protein called Nurr1 is key for maintaining the health of neurons that produce dopamine, which helps control a person's movements and emotions. It is thought that decreased Nurr1 effectiveness may lead to a decrease in dopamine levels, which then results in the development of Parkinson's disease.

"We thought that small molecules that can activate Nurr1 may be promising drug candidates to treat Parkinson's disease. After many years of research, in 2015, we found three FDA-approved drugs that bind to Nurr1 and activate it," explained senior author Kwang-Soo Kim, PhD, director of the Molecular Neurobiology Lab at McLean Hospital and a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "This finding prompted us to hypothesize that there may be natural molecules--that is, endogenous ligands--that also bind to Nurr1 but don't have side effects."

When the scientists looked for such molecules in various tissues from mice, they found hormone-like compounds called prostaglandin A1 and E1 as promising candidates that bound to and activated the Nurr1 protein. The collaborative team also created a model depicting the structure of these molecules when they are bound to the Nurr1 protein by performing X-ray co-crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance studies. This information will be critical as treatment strategies that target Nurr1 are optimized.

More:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-06/mh-ndm060420.php

[duforsure]

1. Thanks for posting

Diagnosed in Jan., so this is progress, and good news .

[in2herbs]

2. Increasing dopamine levels in Parkinsons patients has been part of the therapy used by

naturopathic physicians and other alt-med practitioners for years in their treatment of P. I have a friend who was diagnosed with P about 5 years ago and he's doing better than others cuz he's been on dopamine. BTW: Chaste Berry increases dopamine levels, which is what he is on. As soon as my horses reach their 20s I feed them Chaste Berry to minimize/avoid Cushings disease.

Big pharma had to produce their own pharmaceutical Chaste Berry before it became a treatment used by conventional practitioners. I still run across P patients who refuse to use Chaste Berry but will take the pharmaceutical Chaste Berry.