Antibiotic doxycycline may offer hope for treatment of Parkinson's disease
According to the authors, the substance reduces the toxicity of α-synuclein, a protein that, under certain conditions, forms abnormal accumulations of aggregates in central nervous system cells, which are damaged as a result. The death of dopaminergic neurons (which produce the neurotransmitter dopamine ) is the main event relating to the development of such symptoms as tremor, slow voluntary movements and stiffness, among others. There are currently no drugs capable of halting the progress of this degenerative process. Three Brazilian scientists participated in the study, which was supported by FAPESP: Elaine Del-Bel, affiliated with the University of São Paulo's Ribeirão Preto Dental School (FORP-USP), and Leandro R. S. Barbosa and Rosangela Itri, at the same university's Physics Institute (IF-USP) in the city of São Paulo. "We have exciting data from experiments with mice and great expectations that the neuroprotective effect will also be observed in human patient...