The treatment of Parkinson's disease could be made far less intrusive with the use of tiny platinum electrodes, according to new research published yesterday (19th March).

Parkinson's occurs when cells that work with a neurotransmitter known as dopamine suddenly start dying, and sufferers can be treated by using a replacement drug called levodopa.

However, this loses its power over time and some patients are then required to have deep brain stimulation, which involves implanting an electric pacemaker to send impulses to specific areas.

Researchers at Duke University in the US noticed during tests on Parkison's-engineered rats that groups of neurons in the cortex and basal ganglia areas of their brains were firing at the same time.

The rhythmic movement was similar to the characteristics of mild epileptic seizures, so the scientists decided to investigate the effect of stimulating the rodents' spinal cords with the platinum electrodes.

Miguel Nicolelis, a professor of neurobiology and Co-Director of the Center for Neuroengineering at the university, explained that the process achieved similar results to the more invasive treatment.

Writing in the journal Science, he said: "I had seen this a decade ago. When we stimulated them with a small current, we got an effect that was identical - and even better - than what people get when they do this deep brain stimulation."

Furthermore, the researchers then decided to use the electrical stimulation in combination with levodopa and found that this had even more encouraging results.

Using just 20 per cent of the typical dose alongside the electric pulses created a long-term effect similar to that offered by the drug, with none of the typical resistance which develops over time.

Professor Nicolelis now plans to test the process on chimpanzees to determine whether it could be viable in humans, although some scientists have urged caution about the findings.

Alim Benabid, Professor Emeritus of Biophysics at Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France, originally developed the deep brain stimulation therapy in the 1980s.

He was quoted by Technology Review as saying: "We have to keep in mind that these are experimental data. It is too early to say whether this could replace levodopa treatment or the current deep brain stimulation."

Nevertheless, Partick Aebischer, President of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, told the news provider that it would be a "fantastic step" if applicable to Parkinson's in humans.

Source:

Safer Electrical Therapy for Parkinson's (20/03/09)
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22320/page1/