Parkinson’s disease is marked by tremors, loss of coordination, and other issues with movement and cognition. It is a neurodegenerative disease, which means it gets progressively worse over time. These symptoms happen because the cells that produce dopamine begin to die. Dopamine, besides giving us feelings of fulfillment and happiness, also help with movement and thought patterns. When dopamine is reduced, the symptoms of Parkinson’s become evident.
Doctors believe that they may have found a new way to help stop Parkinson’s disease. A compound known as farnesol has been shown to alter a protein inhibitor known as PARIS and prevent it from killing off the dopamine producing cells within the brain. When farnesol was present on research subjects, dopamine levels were twice as high as those that were not receiving farnesol treatments.
This research was done on mice models. The team, which was based out of Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Suwon, South Korea, recently published their findings in the journal, Science Translational Medicine.
Farnesol is a component of a few different types of essential oils. But just because you might have essential oils in your home or use them for certain things does not mean that this can be used to treat Parkinson’s or the symptoms associated with it. This treatment has not been used on humans yet and there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done before this occurs, granted that everything proceeds safely. Even if it is found to be helpful and safe for humans, we are still several years away from any sort of widespread approval for usage.
Right now, there is no cure for Parkinson’s or many other neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s. However, there are treatments and therapies that doctors have found that can help slow down the spread of these diseases. L-DOPA is one of the treatments that is currently used to help with lessening Parkinson’s symptoms. But it’s not a cure. There’s still a long way to go before this occurs–if it ever does. Hopefully, this new line of research can help get researchers pointed in the right direction. Blocking these changes in the brain is not a new concept, but farnesol does it in a way that hasn’t previously been observed before. It could mean the beginning of a new line of research. Much more work is needed here before this becomes a reality, but it’s exciting to see that more progress is being made in the fight against these diseases.
Parkinson’s, or any other neurodegenerative disease, can have an increasingly negative impact on the life of someone. It can make everyday tasks a lot more difficult to fulfill, and it can make life difficult for those that care for them, too. Unfortunately, as someone ages, care might become a necessity anyway. Add in a disease like Parkinson’s and things can become very stressful.
Please know that there’s help out there. Whether it’s our agency or another, there are a lot of people and services out there that can help your family adjust to your family’s changing situation.
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