The blood brain barrier is thought to help protect the brain from toxins that can normally be carried within the bloodstream. But when it comes to Parkinson’s disease, recent research indicates that there can often be a defect within the blood brain barrier that might be a contributing factor to the development and progression of Parkinson’s disease.
This finding comes after a new study that looked at vascular defects and how they might influence the progression of Parkinson’s. What the research team found was that when the blood brain barrier was activated, Parkinson’s disease symptoms did not advance as quickly as they did without this protection in place.
Originally, this study path was done to study the efficacy of the drug nilotinib. This drug has been shown to help stop both motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s. However, researchers were curious regarding why this drug was so effective at treating the symptoms that come along with the disease. Nilotinib deactivated a protein that is associated with breaking down the blood brain barrier. Once the barrier was reestablished, patients saw their symptoms lessen.
This study was conducted by a team of researchers from the Georgetown University Medical Center. The findings were published in the journal, Neurology Genetics. This is the first study of its kind.
There’s no cure for Parkinson’s and because it is a degenerative disease, symptoms will eventually get worse and worse until the person with the disease ends up passing away, either because of the disease or for another reason. Unfortunately, this is where medicine currently is with the disease. Although there are things that can be done to slow the spread of the disease and to make the lives of those that are suffering from it better, there’s no way to cure the disease.
That’s why advances like this, and anything else that helps us to better understand Parkinson’s and how it progresses, are so important. Even if they don’t provide us with a cure, they get us one step closer to that goal. This study didn’t find a cure for the disease, but it did help us to understand some of the conditions that lead to a worsening of the disease. It could be a big step forward when it comes to the overall treatment that individuals with Parkinson’s receive. And hopefully it will lead to even more research that helps advance the overall field of medicine.
If you’d like to learn a little bit more about how those with Parkinson’s can benefit from in-home care, please let us know. One of our professional caregivers can walk you through the steps that we take to ensure that the people that we care for are getting the specialized care that they need to stay healthy and thrive. Parkinson’s can certainly be a challenge, but that doesn’t mean that people suffering from this should get a second rate level of care. Give us a call today to learn more about how in-home care can help your loved one live the highest quality of life that they can.
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