Erasing Bad Memories Boosts Long-Term Parkinson's Care

[Bolt_Upright]

Erasing Bad Memories Boosts Long-Term Parkinson's Care 9 July 2024 miragenews.com/erasing-bad-...

University of Alabama at Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Common treatments for Parkinson's disease can address short-term symptoms but can also cause extensive problems for patients in the long run. Namely, treatments can cause dyskinesia, a form of uncontrollable movements and postures.

In a recent study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham took a different approach to dyskinesia and treated it like a "bad motor memory." They found that blocking a protein called Activin A could halt dyskinesia symptoms and effectively erase the brain's "bad memory" response to certain Parkinson's treatments.

(See article for more)

[park_bear]

Study here: jneurosci.org/content/44/26...

Looks like a good study - they examined what goes on at the dopamine receptor level to understand and resolve dyskinesia. If this mouse study gets turned into a clinical treatment that could be a real game changer.

Also, the study looks at physical changes resulting from levodopa treatment and should not be interpreted as applying to what we ordinarily regard as memory.

[staceysack]

Well that would be amazing! Thank you for posting this!

[NextStage]

This is a really interesting approach. However, athletes, dancers and musicians, when they practice, are building up their "muscle memory", which allows them to perform better. It sounds like this treatment may also block skill development. Of course it may be worth it, but sad to think of another loss.