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Wednesday
Skin Patch Helps Fight Parkinson's
Click to read... A STICK-ON patch that treats the symptoms of Parkinson's disease is being developed by British scientists.
The patch contains drugs already taken by mouth to treat the condition.
Though these drugs are effective, taking them orally can mean an uneven amount is available to the brain, which can cause violent swings in the severity of symptoms.
Using a patch will ensure a constant supply of medicine gets into the bloodstream, where it can travel directly to the brain.
Once there, it mimics the effects of dopamine, a chemical messenger in the brain lacking in Parkinson's sufferers.
Experts hope this will dramatically improve the management of symptoms.
Some sufferers find it hard to swallow tablets because of the effect the disease has on muscles in the body. Parkinson's affects around 120,000 people in the UK, and 10,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.
The main symptoms include shaking and muscle stiffness, and many sufferers eventually find it difficult to write, walk, talk or swallow.
Though there is no known cure, drugs can control the severity of the symptoms by compensating for the lack of dopamine - a chemical that acts as a 'signal agent' between the parts of the brain that control movement and co-ordination.
The most common, Levodopa, has been around since the Sixties and is converted into dopamine by the brain.
Newer drugs, called dopamine agonists, act by mimicking the effects of dopamine.
But without a constant supply of these drugs, the brain can be seriously affected.
Sufferers can go from being active and mobile to helpless and wheelchair-bound.
The patch contains drugs already taken by mouth to treat the condition.
Though these drugs are effective, taking them orally can mean an uneven amount is available to the brain, which can cause violent swings in the severity of symptoms.
Using a patch will ensure a constant supply of medicine gets into the bloodstream, where it can travel directly to the brain.
Once there, it mimics the effects of dopamine, a chemical messenger in the brain lacking in Parkinson's sufferers.
Experts hope this will dramatically improve the management of symptoms.
Some sufferers find it hard to swallow tablets because of the effect the disease has on muscles in the body. Parkinson's affects around 120,000 people in the UK, and 10,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.
The main symptoms include shaking and muscle stiffness, and many sufferers eventually find it difficult to write, walk, talk or swallow.
Though there is no known cure, drugs can control the severity of the symptoms by compensating for the lack of dopamine - a chemical that acts as a 'signal agent' between the parts of the brain that control movement and co-ordination.
The most common, Levodopa, has been around since the Sixties and is converted into dopamine by the brain.
Newer drugs, called dopamine agonists, act by mimicking the effects of dopamine.
But without a constant supply of these drugs, the brain can be seriously affected.
Sufferers can go from being active and mobile to helpless and wheelchair-bound.