Science / Medicine : New Approaches Studied for Fighting Parkinson’s

Animal studies may have uncovered a new route for developing drugs to slow or halt the debilitating progression of Parkinson’s disease, researchers from the German drug company Schering AG reported last week. The researchers said in the journal Nature that they have found drugs that block the so-called NMDA receptors on the surface of rat brain cells and thereby protect the cells from the harmful effects of a chemical known to cause symptoms like Parkinson’s.

Parkinson’s disease, which affects 500,000 to 1 million Americans, generally over the age of 40, causes a progressive loss of muscle control resulting in shaking of the arms and legs, stiffness and loss of balance. Some researchers believe that it is caused by chemicals, such as pesticides, in the environment.

The Schering researchers found that administering several different drugs that block the NMDA receptor would protect rats when they were subsequently given a chemical that causes symptoms like Parkinson’s.

One of the NMDA-blockers tested in rats by the German team was MK-801. Last month, the University of Michigan’s Kenneth Trujillo reported that MK-801 may prevent the development of addiction to opiate drugs, such as morphine, in rats. At that time, Trujillo said, high doses of MK-801 caused adverse effects in the rats. He said it is possible that the drug could interfere with learning and memory in humans if the dose is not carefully regulated.