Parkinson's disease cause is identified

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists said they have identified the key brain chemical that causes Parkinson's disease.

Researchers at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine said their finding might lead to new and far more effective therapies to treat one of the most common and debilitating of neurological disorders.

Currently, the main approach for treating Parkinson's disease is to replace dopamine that's lost when the cells that produce it die, thereby causing the disorder. The researchers said their finding will lead to "neuroprotective" therapies -- those that actually block dopamine cells from dying.

"We believe this work represents a very significant breakthrough in understanding the complicated chemical process that results in Parkinson's disease," said Dr. William Burke, a professor of neurology and the study's lead author.

"For the first time, we've identified the chemical that triggers the events in the brain that cause this disorder," he said. "We believe these findings can be used to develop therapies that can actually stop or slow this process."

The research is reported in the early online edition of the journal Acta Neuropathologica.