Parkinson’s Disease is a neurologic disease that has many different clinical presentations between different patients. Mainly, this disease affects one’s motor control and cognitive properties that can decrease one's action planning, conflict adaptation, and inhibition. This can lead to symptoms of tremors, rigidity, and bradykinesia (slow movement and speed), which are common in many patients who are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Other patients can also experience issues with sleep, smell, and cognition as well. The development of Parkinson's Disease is due to a decreased level of dopamine that is found in the striatum or the nucleus of the neurons found within the forebrain that are responsible for voluntary movement control. This then leads to an overall decreased secretion of dopamine.
There are no treatment options for patients with Parkinson’s disease that can reverse or stop progression of the disease, however, one of the newest medication options for individuals struggling with Parkinson’s disease targets dopaminergic receptors, or those who are responsible for releasing dopamine from the forebrain in order to aid in their motor control and improve their quality of life. There are two main medications; some are precursors that aid in increasing the production of dopamine from these neurons and some that are agonists that mimic the role of dopamine in the dopamine receptors. These treatments mainly target the motor control defects of these patients, however there are beneficial and adverse effects that come with each of these medications. Some patients have been shown to also aid in other types of defects such as memory and attention while others have shown to have deficits in learning.
In this study, the researchers reviewed many research studies that compared the effects of Parkinson’s disease medication by comparing groups of patients who are on the medication compared to those who are off the medications and comparing the effects on one’s action/motor control. From these reviews, they were able to conclude that insufficient amounts of dopamine can be cognitive to action control performances, however excessive amounts of dopamine could potentially not be imperative to the patients based on the idea that the development of the disease isn’t based on just neural activity alone. They propose the idea that the dopamine effects can also be task dependent. In future studies, the researchers suggest diving deeper into the ideas of comparing whether these different action control tasks and dopamine levels are independent or dependent on one another and examine the levels of dopamine at which they are related or unrelated to one another.
Source: Ruitenberg, M. F. L., van Wouwe, N. C., Wylie, S. A., & Abrahamse, E. L. (2021). The role of dopamine in action control: Insights from medication effects in Parkinson's disease. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 127, 158–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.04.023
Though there is no cure for Parkinsons disease, I wondered if there is any research that may help with other symptoms such as cognitive learning and tremors. My grandfather had PD, I seen how hard it was for him to talk, as he stuttered a lot and it was very hard for him to function physically with tremors. After some research, I did find that that it was shown in a woman taking diphenhydramine also known as Benadryl, that it did help with the tremors helping her while in hospice. It is also used in anesthesia for patients who have PD, with the use of L-dopa and amantadine in combination to help with tremors. With more research, I am optimistic there soon will be treatment for a cure.
ReplyDeleteGonzalez, Faustino. (2009) Diphenhydramine May Be Useful as a Pallative Treatment for Patients Dying with Parkinson’s Disease and Tremors: A Case Report and Discussion. American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine 26, 6, 474-475, https://doi.org/10.1177/1049909109338937