A McGill-led study is challenging a popular theory about how dopamine drives movement, a discovery that could shift how scientists think about Parkinson’s disease treatments. 

Published in Nature Neuroscience, the research found dopamine does not set the speed or force of each movement, as had been thought. Instead, it appears to act as the underlying support system that makes movement possible. 

From work meetings to first dates, it’s essential to adjust our behavior for success. In certain situations, it can even be a matter of life or death. So how do we switch our behavior when situations change? Published in Nature Communications, neuroscientists from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) describe the neural basis of behavioral flexibility in mice, with insights which may help us understand a wide variety of diseases and disorders, from addiction to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) to Parkinson’s disease. 

Parkinson's disease (PD) is an age-related, progressive, neurodegenerative condition, caused by loss of dopamine-producing neurons. To overcome the shortcomings of conventional levodopa-based therapies, recent focus has shifted to advanced, combination therapies. A recently published review article focuses on the potential of combining stem cell therapy with brain-derived neurotrophic factor enhancement as a synergistic approach to manage PD by offering both symptomatic relief and disease modification.

Dopamine neurons in a part of the brain called the midbrain may, with aging, be increasingly susceptible to a vicious spiral of decline driven by fuel shortages, according to a study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The findings offer a potential explanation for the degeneration of this neuron population in Parkinson’s disease.

A new study highlights five ways microplastics can trigger inflammation and damage in the brain.