Failure of Parkinson’s treatment drug trial

Parkinson’s disease affects the cells of the brain which produce a chemical neurotransmitter called a dopamine. The main function of this neurotransmitter is to carry information from the brain to different parts of the body.  

But if the signaling chemical dopamine itself becomes less, messages are transmitted in incomplete burst or skipped altogether resulting in jerky movements and tremors which are a typical sign of Parkinson’s disease.  

Although the chemical transmitter dopamine can be artificially synthesized in a laboratory and injected into the brain, a special barrier called as the blood brain barrier (BBB) prevents the dopamine from entering the brain where it is desperately needed.

 So technically the blood brain barrier has to be fooled into thinking that synthetic dopamine is something else totally. This is where Levadopa comes in. Levadopa manages to fool the BBB and slips into the brain to control Parkinson symptoms. 

Sounds simple right? This is where the catch comes in. The brain quickly begins to demand more and more Levadopa which cannot be provided to the patient.  

A cruel and unusual twist to treatment measures. Recently researchers had tried to transplant the cells which made dopamine from the brains of unborn fetuses into the brains of Parkinson patients. But the clinical trial have shown variable results dashing the hopes of millions of patients all over the world. Although fetal cells were implanted successfully the cells continued to grow indiscriminately grossly increasing the amount of dopamine production. This created a whole new set of problems for the already suffering patients. 

One avenue of research may be blocked but scientists are not willing to give up just yet!